Picking Up the Pieces
by TutorGurl
Summary: When Nathan makes a mistake one night, it doesn't just affect him, but everyone around him. Secrets are kept and discovered, hearts are broken and friendships are tested. When everything falls apart, who will be there to pick up the pieces? NH, BL, PJ
1. My Good Friend Self Doubt

Author's Note: Hello, to everyone out there. I already have two other fics on the go, but I had this idea and I just had to start writing it. If you have ever read my other two stories; In An Instant and I'm Broken, Please Fix Me than you will know that I am not a Naley fan. I always said that I would never write a Naley fic, but I figured if I can get the drama in and it's not all fluff, then I think I can stomach it. You all have been warned, I don't like Nathan Scott, but I absolutely love Haley James. This fic has a lot of bad Nathan in it, but I might make him come around in the end, I'll think about it.  
  
OTH  
  
"So, you think he's going to ask you to move in with him?"  
  
Brooke, Haley and Peyton were currently enjoying their first day of summer at the only place in Tree Hill that was worth going, the beach. Of course they all came for different reasons; Haley to escape the drama that was going on in her house, Peyton came looking to get some inspiration from all the typical teenagers that would be hanging around, and Brooke just came to guy-watch.  
  
"I think so," Haley answered, pushing the sunglasses she had over her eyes to rest on the top of her head. She turned to face her friends. "I mean, maybe not. Maybe I'm just reading all the signs wrong."  
  
"Okay, what are the signs?" Peyton asked, glancing up to get a better look at the muscular guy she was drawing. Brooke rolled her eyes, getting annoyed at the blonde.  
  
"Would you stop with your freaky drawings?" She reached over and snatched the book out of Peyton's hands and tossed it on the other side of her.  
  
"Hey!" she protested. "Do I take the thing that helps express who you are the most when you're in the middle of applying it to your pouty little lips?" She tried to reach around the girl to get to her book, but Brooke wouldn't move.  
  
"Excuse me, Miss Dark and Depressed," Brooke scowled at her. "We are supposed to be in the middle of helping our dear, inexperienced best friend sort out her love life."  
  
"I was listening," Peyton insisted. Brooke wasn't buying it. "I asked her what the signs were, I showed an interest!" Haley rolled her eyes and slid the glasses back on and laid down. She chose to ignore the ongoing argument that was happening between her friends in favor of getting a nice tan.  
  
"Oh, please," Brooke exclaimed. "You were too busy watching that amazingly hot, sweaty, well muscled, shiny skinned, totally yummy piece of meat to...wait, what was I talking about?"  
  
"Your boyfriend," Peyton snapped, wanting to rub it in that Brooke couldn't hook up with any of the hot guys at the beach. Haley laughed. "You remember him, right? Cute guy, goes by the name of Lucas Scott. Ringing any bells?"  
  
"Hey, I can look, I just can't touch," Brooke insisted, picking Peyton's sketchbook off the sand and began flipping through it.  
  
"Is Lucas aware of this little arrangement?"  
  
"Oh, please," Brooke scoffed, turning the page. "I catch him looking at girls all the time. Especially that one over there." She pushes out her elbow, showing that she's was talking about Haley.  
  
"Haley?" Peyton questioned, raising an eyebrow. Haley shook her head, not wanting to get involved in this ridiculous conversation.  
  
"No, the girl serving the tofu Popsicles at the Ice Cream Shack over there," Brooke retorted without looking up from the drawing she was trying to figure out. She couldn't decide if that was a gun or a hockey stick. "Of course Haley."  
  
"Nay," Peyton sighed, waving it off with her hand. "He's just looking to make sure that Nathan isn't trying anything."  
  
"Hey, speaking of Nathan and me," Haley spoke up, getting into a sitting position so she could glare at both girls. Brooke and Peyton looked over at her, surprised at her sudden decision to interject. "Do you think we could get back to the topic we were originally discussing?"  
  
"What was that again?" Brooke asked in a timid voice, not wanting to get Haley even angrier with her. Peyton grabbed her book out of Brooke's hands, knowing the girl wasn't paying any attention.  
  
"She thinks that Nathan is going to ask her to move in with him," Peyton answered absently, getting back into the drawing she had been in the middle of before she was rudely interrupted.  
  
"He is!?!" Brooke exclaimed in excitement. Haley shook her head at Brooke and laid back down. Peyton let out a little laugh. Brooke watched them in confusion, wondering why they weren't more excited. "How do you know?"  
  
"The signs!" Haley yelled at her, not believing that Brooke had totally forgotten what they were talking about.  
  
"And you said I wasn't paying attention," Peyton mumbled. Both girls ignored her comment.  
  
"Okay, Hales," Brooke began. "This is something very important. I need you to tell me exactly what these signs were?" Haley sighed and pushed herself up into a sitting position. This time she took her glasses off all together and put them on the towel between her and Peyton.  
  
"I don't know," Haley answered. "Well, for one, lately he's been trying to get me to stay over all the time."  
  
"Horny, next."  
  
"Okay, well, he suggested bringing clothes over to put in the bottom drawer in his dresser."  
  
"Trying to get you naked, next."  
  
"Alright," Haley began. "Um, whenever he had company he always tells them to get out of 'our' apartment."  
  
"Wants to get in your pants..."  
  
"Brooke!" Peyton finally cut in, slamming her marker down and glaring at the brunette to her left. "Would you shut up? She's trying to be serious here. Is there really a need to joke around about sex?"  
  
"Who's joking?" Brooke teased. Peyton's eyes narrowed at her, but she just shook her head and went back to drawing. "Alright, I'm done."  
  
"So, what do you really think?" Haley asked, not commenting on Peyton's little outburst, but thankful for it. "Do you think I'm right or am I just reading way too much into this?"  
  
"I think it's a definite possibility," Brooke answered with a smile, her dimples in full swing. "I mean, come on. You guys have been going out for a year now and you practically live there already."  
  
"I guess..."  
  
"And Nathan's so in love with you he can't think straight." Haley smiled at the comment, enjoying the happy feeling that washed over her at Brooke's words. "He would jump at the chance to see you everyday and wake up next to you every morning."  
  
"I'd love that, too," Haley admitted, pushing a stray hair back behind her ear. "I mean, I know we're really young, we aren't even seniors yet, but I love him so much, you know?"  
  
"I know."  
  
"I just have this feeling in the pit of my stomach every time I see him." She picked up a handful of sand and watched in slip through her fingers. "It's like I just know we're gonna be together forever."  
  
"Aww," Brooke gushed, leaning over Peyton to give Haley a hug. "My little Haley's in love. I'm so proud of you." Peyton made gagging noises and Brooke swatted her head. "You shush, blondie." Haley laughed and pulled back.  
  
"So, if he asks you, you're gonna say yes?" Peyton questioned, thankful that Brooke was now off of her. Haley thought about it for a split second before nodding.  
  
"Yeah," she said with a huge smile on her face. "I think I am."  
  
"Yay!" Brooke cheered, jumping up. "I'm gonna go get one of those Popsicles, of the non-tofu variety. Want one?" They nodded and she took off. "Party at Nathan and Haley's!" Haley laughed as she watched Brooke race off before turning back to her blonde friend. Her smile faded.  
  
"So, that's a vote in the 'go for it' column," Haley commented, noticing that Peyton hadn't really indicated her opinion on the matter. "What do you think?"  
  
Peyton smiled at her and looked down. She knew Nathan Scott better than anyone, even better than Haley. She knew that he was different, but there were just some things about him that would never change. He was always easy to read and lately there was just something off about him, like he was hiding something. She still couldn't figure out what it was, but she knew that he was up to something and she was certain it would end up hurting Haley. Despite her concern for her best friend, she saw how Haley's eyes lit up whenever she was around the boy and she just didn't have the heart to tell her the truth. At least not until she knew what was really going on with him.  
  
"Send me an invitation to the house warming party?" she answered. The smile returned to Haley's face and the girl pulled her into a bone-crushing hug.  
  
"Thank you so much, Pey," Haley told her. "I need all the support I can get." Peyton smiled at her and nodded.  
  
"Anytime," she replied. Haley laughed and went back to her sunbathing. Peyton had a sinking feeling in her gut that this was all going to end up blowing up in their faces. She just hoped she could be there to help pick up the pieces.  
  
OTH  
  
So, what does everyone think? There will be drama all around, and lots of it. Review if you think I should continue. 


	2. We're Playing Basketball

Author's Note: Thanks so much for the replies guys. It means a lot to me. Please, keep them coming.  
  
OTH  
  
"You can't be serious, man."  
  
Nathan, Lucas, Jake and Tim had chosen to find something else to do on their first day of summer. While the girls had opted to be beach bums, the boys decided on a more traditional activity, basketball. They were currently just playing a game of twenty-one while discussing their summer plans.  
  
"What are you trying to say?" Tim asked, passing the ball off to Jake to make the shot. "You don't think I can get a girl tonight?"  
  
"Oh, I'm sure you can," Nathan replied, catching the ball that just went in and tossing it back to Jake. He turned to Tim and laughed at the hurt look on his face.  
  
"Anyone can get a girl," Luke commented as he tried to block Jake's shot. "Even you. I think what Nate is trying to say is that..."  
  
"You just can't keep her," Jake finished, shooting the ball and smiling when it went in clean. When Nathan grabbed the ball and passed it to Luke, Jake turned to Tim.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"You see, Tim," Jake began, laying a hand on his shoulder. "Girls are looking for one of two things. Take Haley for example; she's a good girl right?"  
  
"I wouldn't answer that if I were you, Tim," Nathan warned him, only half listening to the conversation while still playing with his brother. Lucas let out a little laugh as he tried to get around Nathan to drive to the basket. Tim looked at his friend scared for a moment before nodding his head yes to Jake's question.  
  
"Keep going."  
  
"Haley, being the good girl that she is, hooked up with Nathan, the bad boy," Jake explained, happy to see the look of understanding on Tim's face. He was afraid that he was going to have to use flash cards.  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Now take Brooke," Jake continued. A glazed over look came across Tim's face so Jake quickly moved on. "Now it's no secret that she used to be, for lack of a better word a..."  
  
"Slut," Nathan offered, wincing when Luke elbowed him as he moved around him and took the shot. "He said was," Nathan pointed out. "As in past tense."  
  
"I prefer it if you didn't refer to either the past or present version of my girlfriend as a slut." Luke grabbed the ball as it past through the net and passed it to Nathan, a little more roughly than needed. Nathan just caught the ball and laughed, knowing Luke was just kidding around.  
  
"I was going to say bad girl," Jake informed them before turning back to his discussion with Dumber. "Notice Brooke, the bad girl, didn't fall for Nathan, the bad boy, but for Lucas, the good guy. Do you see where I'm going with this?"  
  
"Let me see," Tim began. Jake sighed, scared of what Tim's impression of what he just said would be. "The good girl always falls for the bad boy and the bad girl always falls for the good guy?"  
  
"Good boy, Timmy," Jake cheered, patting Tim on the hair. Tim plastered a silly grin on his face, clearly proud of himself. "Now do you understand why I told you that?"  
  
"Nope," Tim confessed, his smile fading a little. "What does that have to do with me and keeping a girlfriend?"  
  
"Because you are neither a good guy of a bad boy," Jake explained, letting out a roar when Nathan did a particularly nice lay up. Tim's eyes narrowed in confusion. Jake left him there to ponder that, going off to join the dunking contest that was beginning.  
  
"So, then what am I?" he asked, walking over and standing beside Luke to watch Jake's attempt his best dunk. Luke gave him a mock sensitive look.  
  
"I hate to break it to you," Luke began, giving him a hard slap on the back. "But you're the token perverted guy." Tim took a moment to absorb the information before turning to the oldest Scott.  
  
"And that's a bad thing?"  
  
"Not for us," Nathan said as he ran up, tossed the ball around his waist and proceed to hang on the rim after slamming the ball in the net. After a moment of basking in his glory he jumped down. "I for one enjoy watching you get shut down by every girl you talk to. It does tend to prove as somewhat of a comic relief."  
  
"I second that," Luke commented, laughing at the angry look on Tim's face. He shook his head. "Look, we're going out tonight, right?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"So, just once, go up to a girl and say something nice to her."  
  
"What, telling them they have a huge rack isn't nice?" Luke looked at him for a moment before shaking his head and turning away, not being able to talk to him anymore without having his IQ go down ten points. Jake laughed and stepped up, handing the ball off to Luke for his turn.  
  
"I'll give you a little tip," Jake began. Tim leaned in, making a face that said he was very interested. "For starters, don't do that." Tim leaned back, a hurt look on his face.  
  
"But that was my listening face," Tim explained. "I thought bitches liked it when guys listened to them."  
  
"They do," Nathan said, grabbing his water bottle and dumping some over his head. He left Luke alone to take some shots as he walked over to join their conversation. "But they don't like being called bitches."  
  
"Okay," Tim nodded. "Don't call them bitches. What else?"  
  
"If the girl is like Brooke, she probably wants to talk to you," Nathan told him. At the mention of his girlfriend's name, Luke decided to join them. "She's so used to playing the part of the skank, that she really just wants a guy to see the girl underneath all that crap. She wants a sissy guy like Luke that's not trying to get in her pants." Luke shoved him.  
  
"And if the girl is like Haley, she probably wants someone to loosen her up," Luke shot back. "She's tired of always being thought of as the good little girl, so she does what no one expects and hooks up with a cocky jackass like Nathan because he doesn't treat her like she's special."  
  
"That actually sounds right," Jake added, surprised at their explanations. He looked at them strangely for a moment before turning back to Tim. "So, which kind of girl are you looking for?"  
  
"Well, which one is more likely to put out?" Jake rolled his eyes, not believing that he actually thought Tim was interested in anything else but sex.  
  
"Definitely not the good girl," Nathan mumbled bitterly. Luke shot him a worried glance, not knowing how he should take that. He shook it off, deciding that Nathan was probably just frustrated.  
  
"Well, I'll tell you this," Luke smirked. "The bad girl is a pretty safe bet. At least mine is, anyway." Tim's face lit up for a second before it fell again.  
  
"But that means I have to be all sensitive right?" The other three nodded. "But that sounds kind of gay." Tim got an idea. "Hey, Luke, that means you can give me some pointers, right."  
  
"Yeah, Luke," Nathan laughed. Just as Luke was lunging forward to tackle Tim, a car pulled up. He stopped his movements and they all turned to see a silver Bug turning off and three girls step out.  
  
"Play nice, boys," Haley taunted them as she, Brooke and Peyton approached them. The girls all went to greet their respective boyfriends. "Hey, baby," she said sweetly, reaching up to give Nathan a kiss. Nathan wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her in close to his body. "Icky, you're all sweaty."  
  
"Hey, boyfriend," Brooke said, going for a more forward approach, jumping up into Luke's arms and nibbling on his ear. "Miss me?"  
  
"Like crazy," he answered. Peyton shook her head at their actions and planted a simple kiss on Jake's lips, which made him just as happy, if not happier than Luke.  
  
"Hey, bab....Oh, no wait, I have no one," Tim interrupted them, bitterly. All three girls pouted at him.  
  
"Aww," Brooke teased him. She dropped out of Luke's arms and went over to Tim. "Is our little Timmy lonely?" She reached over and gave him a kiss on the cheek.  
  
"Tim Smyth doesn't get lonely," he defended, shoving her away as she laughed at him. "He only gets horny."  
  
"Well, if he doesn't stop referring to himself in the third person, he's never going to get laid," Peyton retorted. Tim sneered at her.  
  
"Be nice," Jake whispered into her ear. She smiled as his breath caressed her neck. She nodded and gave Tim an apologetic smile and he just pouted at her.  
  
"Don't worry, sweetie," Brooke assured him. "Well find you a nice girl tonight if it's the last thing I do." She ruffled his hair before walking back over to bury herself in her boyfriend's arms.  
  
"You guys wanna play a quick game of shirts vs. skins?" Nathan suggested, giving Haley's sides a little tickle. She laughed and pulled out of his arms.  
  
"I'm in," she cheered, walking away from the group and picking up the ball that was left in the middle of the court. "Brooke? Pey?"  
  
"Sure," they both said, walking over to join her.  
  
"Okay, me, Jake, and Luke will be shirts," Nathan began. "The three of you can be skins." The girls all glared at him and he immediately backed down when he saw the look on Haley's face. "Okay, you guys can be shirts."  
  
"That's better," Haley said sweetly.  
  
"What am I supposed to do? "Tim asked, angry that they won't let him play.  
  
"Go sit over there and practice being sensitive," Nathan ordered him. Tim bowed his had, walked over to the bench and plopped down in a huff.  
  
"Poor, Tim," Haley laughed, before turning back to the boys that still had their shirts on. "What are you waiting for? Take it off." The boys did as they were told and took off their shirts as they walked on the court.  
  
"Yummy." Brooke cheered, clapping as she finally saw some skin. "You guys are going down." They stopped walking and Haley and Peyton looked at her. Tim's head perked up.  
  
"Who's going down?"  
  
"Shut up, Tim," they all said. Tim mumbled something under his breath about 'getting a little foreplay' and put his head back down.  
  
OTH  
  
That's all for now. The drama is still coming, don't you worry. Reply if you think I should continue. 


	3. Care to Make it Interesting?

Author's Note: Thank you so much again for all the reviews. They're great. Please keep them coming.  
  
OTH  
  
"What time are we supposed to meet?"  
  
Haley looked around her boyfriend's apartment, scrunching at all the mess that was coving the room. She didn't even think she could see carpet anywhere around her. She picked up one of Nathan's shirts that is right beside her on the couch and flings it across the room. She sighs and looks at her watch.  
  
"Nate's in the shower right now," Haley sighed into the phone. As if on cue, she heard the shower shut off and Nathan shuffling around in the bathroom. "Actually he just got out."  
  
"So ask him when he wants to meet?" Brooke ordered, trying to keep the image of a naked Nathan Scott of her mind. She didn't have feelings for him or anything, she had Luke, but she just thought he was really hot. She did have eyes.  
  
"Kay," Haley said to her before covering the mouthpiece of the phone. "Nate?"  
  
"Yeah?" he called from the bathroom.  
  
"Brooke wants to know when you want to meet everyone?" A huge smile came to her face when she saw Nathan stick his head out the door. She thought he looked even sexier than normal when he was wet. So hot that she had even had to suppress the urge to jump in the shower with him once.  
  
"Well," he began, shaking his head a little to get some of the water out. "Are we all having dinner together or just getting drink after?" Haley holds up her finger to tell him that she'll ask and he disappears back into the bathroom.  
  
"Brooke?" she called into the phone, hearing her and Lucas fighting over something on the other end. After about twenty more seconds of arguing, Brooke finally came back on the line.  
  
"Hey."  
  
"Hey," Haley sighed back, making an annoyed face even though she knew that Brooke couldn't see her. "Trouble in paradise?"  
  
"No," Brooke answered with a sigh. "I'm just trying to convince Luke to let me paint his fingernails for the club tonight."  
  
"And let me guess," Haley said, laughing at the mental image of Lucas Scott wearing ruby red nail polish as he chugged on a beer. "He's not letting you?"  
  
"No," she exclaimed, seeming to be generally surprised that he said no. "Can you believe that? He denied me, Brooke Davis. Nobody denies Brooke Davis anything."  
  
"Didn't Peyton already have the third person talk with Tim," Haley commented. Brooke rolled her eyes.  
  
"So what did your Scott say?"  
  
"Huh?" It took Haley a moment to realize what she was talking about. "Oh, yeah. He wanted to know if we're all getting together for dinner first or not." Nathan came out of the bathroom, in nothing but a towel wrapped around her waist. Haley bit her bottom lip as she watched him make his way into the kitchen.  
  
"Haley?" Brooke called out to her after Haley didn't respond to anything she had been saying. "Hales?"  
  
"Oh, hi," Haley said, snapping out of her thoughts. She blushed as she realized that she had been staring. "Sorry, what was that?"  
  
"I said that Jake's parents don't get home until eight so him and Peyton have to stay there and watch Jenny," Brooke repeated herself. "So if you still wanna go out, it'll just be Lucas and me and you guys."  
  
"That's cool," Haley decided, being able to pay full attention now that Nathan had gone into his room to change. "Nathan's just getting changed now. I still have to shower and get ready."  
  
"Me too," Brooke replied. Haley could hear Luke saying something to her. "Give me a minute. My man is trying to say something."  
  
"Kay," Haley said. At first she couldn't hear anything cause Brooke had covered the mouthpiece, but sometime during their conversation, Brooke's hand had slipped and she could hear everything.  
  
"No, Luke!" Brooke screamed. "You can not get a quickie before dinner!"  
  
"How come?" she could faintly hear Luke ask. She had to suppress a giggle at the whining tone of his voice.  
  
"Because you won't let me paint your nails!" Brooke answered. Apparently she didn't think that there was anything else to say to him as she returned to the conversation she was having with Haley. "Back."  
  
"You still on the nails?" Haley laughed. Nathan smiled at her as he exited his room in a blue button up shirt and a pair of jeans.  
  
"I just can't believe he said no," Brooke explained. "I mean, I used all of my charm and everything. I even slid my foot up his leg as I asked."  
  
"And he didn't fall for it?"  
  
"No!" Haley bounced a little when Nathan flopped down on the couch beside her.  
  
"I knew I raised him well," Haley cheered, surprised that Luke had actually resisted Brooke's advances. Maybe he wasn't as whipped as she thought he was. She smiled when Nathan leaned in closer and started kissing her neck. She suddenly had an idea. "How would you feel about a little bet?"  
  
"A bet?"  
  
"I bet I can do what you couldn't," Haley explained, thinking that maybe she could get Nathan to let her paint his nails. She thought he would look so cute.  
  
"Are you serious?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Okay you're on," Brooke answered. "Fifty bucks." Haley couldn't take it anymore as Nathan moved up to nibble on her ear. She gripped the phone and sighed.  
  
"Call here when you're ready to go," Haley said quickly into the phone. "Bye, Brookie." She clicked the end button and tossed the phone on the floor.  
  
"Finally," Nathan sighed and Haley shivered as his breath tickled her skin. "I thought she'd never shut up." Haley knew he was just playing around, he didn't exactly like Brooke, but she was one of Haley's best friends so he put up with her.  
  
"You can scold her at dinner," she told him, nudging him halfheartedly off of her. She needed to get ready if they were going to make it to dinner on time, but on the other hand, she was really enjoying the attention.  
  
"I plan to." He finally decided to pull back and let Haley have her space. Smiling at the pout on his lips, Haley leaned over and gave him a quick peak on the lips.  
  
"I know you aren't Brooke's biggest fan," Haley said sweetly. "But she's my best friend and I appreciate the fact that you are somewhat nice to her. It really means a lot to me."  
  
"Anything for my baby," he replies, pulling her into his lap. She snuggled closer to him and laid her head on his shoulder as she fiddled with the collar of his shirt.  
  
"Anything?" she repeated, trying to sound as sweet as she could. He looked at her strangely and kissed her forehead.  
  
"Anything."  
  
"Well, than I have a favor to ask of you, Mr. Scott." She leaned back so she could give him the puppy dog eyes. She knew Nathan couldn't resist them. He looked a little worried.  
  
"And what would that be, Ms. James?" he asked, nervously. She picked up his hand and played with his fingers. He watched her in confusion.  
  
"Have you ever worn nail polish?" Haley asked innocently as if it were an everyday occurrence for Nathan to have painted nails.  
  
"Umm...no." She looked up from his hand and batted her eyelashes at him.  
  
"Would you ever wear nail polish?" Nathan looked at her uncertainly before slowly taking his hand out of her grasp.  
  
"Again, no." She just smiled at him and began to kiss his neck, trailing up to his ear. She kissed behind his ear, knowing it made him crazy as she ran her hands through his hair.  
  
"Not even for me?" she whispered into his ear. He shivered at the touch. He quickly stood up, picking Haley up with him. He carefully put her back on the couch, taking a step back in an attempt to pry her lips off of him.  
  
"Come on, Hales," he said, finally getting free. She sat there and pouted up at him. "Why do you want me to paint my nails?"  
  
"Brooke was trying to get Luke to do it, but he wouldn't," Haley explained, not pouting anymore. "So I bet her fifty bucks that I could get you to do it."  
  
"So basically you guys were trying to see which one of us was more whipped?"  
  
"Well, if you put it that way..."  
  
"Sorry, Hales," he said, shaking his head and moving back into the kitchen. "I cannot show anyone I'm whipped. Even if it's true, no one will know about it." He reached into the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water. Haley stood up.  
  
"So, what am I supposed to do?" she asked. "I'm out fifty bucks." Nathan shrugged his shoulders, taking a sip of his water.  
  
"Find some other desperate moron," he suggested. Just as he said that the door to his apartment flew open and in walked Tim, with his hand held over his eyes.  
  
"Hello?" he called out, his fingers parting a little to get a peck. "You guys aren't doing it, are you?" Nathan shook his head at his behavior and Haley smiled.  
  
"Tim!" Haley cheered, sauntering over to him. He let his hand fall, assuming that meant that they weren't in the middle of sex. She swag an arm around his shoulder and patted his chest with her other hand, smiling up at him sweetly.  
  
"Hey, Hales." He looked at her strangely, trying to figure out what she was up to.  
  
"You're a desperate moron, right?"  
  
OTH  
  
All done for now. I promise the drama is coming. It just might take a while, but I promise it will be completely worth it. Reply if you like it. Thanks.  
  
Britney 


	4. A Little Lover's Spat

Author's Note: Hey, everyone. Once again, thanks so much for the continuing reviews. Please, keep them coming.  
  
OTH  
  
"I can't believe you made us all come here."  
  
Tim ended up joining Brooke, Luke, Haley and Nathan for dinner and he complained the whole time about the PDA being displayed. Brooke was so annoyed with him, that she promised that if Tim couldn't get a girl to sleep with him tonight, then she would. As unbelievable as it was, Luke was more than happy to donate his girlfriend. It was decided that instead of Brooke giving Haley her fifty bucks, she just had to pay for her dinner which was fine by her since the her dinner only turned out to be thirty- five dollars.  
  
"What's wrong with here?" Brooke questioned as the bouncer gave them a quick glance, decided they were beautiful enough and moved aside. The two couples got through, but the bouncer blocked Tim's way.  
  
"Hey, dude!"  
  
"It's okay," Brooke told the guy, reaching out and touching his arm lightly. "I know he's a bit of a dork." Tim glared at her. "But he's with us." When the guy didn't look like he was going to move, she leaned into him further and smiled up at him sweetly. Haley and Nathan watched in amusement while Luke was fuming at the sight.  
  
"Okay," he finally gave in. He moved aside to let Tim through. As Tim walked by him, he made sure to bump into him. The strength of the guy's huge shoulder connecting with Tim's shoulder caused Tim to fall right on his ass. Everyone around him erupted in laughter.  
  
"You guys are all mean," he threw at them. He jumped up and stalked into the club, trying to block out the sounds of people laughing at him. Haley and Brooke were glaring at their boyfriends for laughing at him.  
  
"Oh, come on, Hales," Nathan spoke out between his laughs. The serious look on her face just made him laugh even harder. "You can't honestly tell me that that wasn't the funniest thing you've ever seen."  
  
"For once I actually agree with him," Luke commented.  
  
"That's not very nice," Brooke scolded them. "You know he's trying to hook up with someone tonight. I'm sure that didn't help him any."  
  
"Oh, yeah," Nathan said, starting to clam down. "And that hot pink nail polish that Haley put on him is going to do wonders for his evening of pimping."  
  
"It makes him look sensitive," Haley defended, not wanting to feel guilty if Tim didn't get any girls tonight because of what she did.  
  
"It makes him look gay," Nathan corrected her. The boys had stopped laughing and motioned for the girls to follow them into the club. As they entered all of them began looking around for a free table. Nathan spotted one in the corner. "Over there."  
  
"Well, I bet that more girls will go up to him to ask him about it," Haley pointed out, reaching for Nathan's hand as he lead the way through the crowded dance floor. Brooke grabbed her other hand and then Luke took her's. They reached the table without losing anyone.  
  
"It's Tim," Luke began, sliding into the round booth. The girls were both on the inside and the boys on the ends so no guys would try to hit on their women. "He was never going to get a girl in the first place. We all knew that."  
  
"I don't know," Haley began. "I'm sure there's some girls out there that might find him cute."  
  
"Yeah," Nathan agreed. "The deaf and blind ones." Luke stifled a laugh at the comment, knowing that his brother was about to get if from both girls. Both Brooke and Haley were throwing him death glares. "What?"  
  
"He is your best friend, you know?" Haley reminded him, not believing that Nathan was being so mean to him. Tim was trying his best, it's just...well, he's Tim. He can't help it.  
  
"So?"  
  
"I would never say something like that to Hales," Brooke explained. "I could think something like that." Haley looked at her. "Which by the way I don't, but I could never say it out loud. That's just mean and harsh. And very un-best friend like."  
  
"Honey," Luke interjected, hoping that he wouldn't regret it. "Guy best friends are different than girl best friends. I mean, I don't sit around braiding Jake's hair and whispering secrets to him."  
  
"I'm a little relieved, I've gotta say," Haley teased.  
  
"You think that's all we do?" Brooke asked. Luke closed his eyes and shook his head, he should have known better. Stupid. "Are you that sexist to think that we just have pillow fights all the time in our underwear?" Nathan smirked, glad that the heat was off of him. Haley got his smirk.  
  
"Don't think you're off the hook, either," Haley warned him. "You're just lucky that their conversation has the potential to be quite entertaining." Nathan frowned. "I'll get back to you soon enough."  
  
"That's not what I meant," Luke tried to explain. "I was just saying that..."  
  
"So what do you think me and Hales do when we're having sleepovers?" she asked. Haley smiled, knowing that there was no right answer to that question. She also knew Luke well enough to know that he was going to joke his way out of this, and that was the last thing that he should do.  
  
"I'm guessing that make-out is the wrong answer," Luke mumbled. Brooke narrowed her eyes at him.  
  
"Excuse me?"  
  
"Nothing."  
  
"You might want to rethink that answer," Brooke suggested. Luke looked to Haley for help, but she just grinned at him, letting him know that she was just as interested to her his answer as Brooke was.  
  
"Oh, give him a break," Nathan interrupted, getting sick of Brooke's overdramatic reaction. In fact he was getting sick of the whole conversation. So far all he's gotten was bitched at for everything he's said. "This is ridiculous. He's a guy; I'll be it, a very sissy guy, but a guy non-the less. He has the same fantasies as the rest of us do." Haley turned around to face him, looking at him accusingly.  
  
"So, you think the same thing as Lucas about our girly sleepovers?"  
  
"Hell yes," he answered, not afraid to say it. Luke shook his head, not believing that he just said that. Did he not know anything? He was certainly going to miss his little brother.  
  
"Oh, really?"  
  
"Yes," he confirmed, not backing down. He was getting pissed off already and they haven't even had any drinks yet. "I'll admit that when you say that you're having a sleepover with Brooke or Peyton, I picture you guys having a very fun time. And by fun, I mean hot lesbian sex."  
  
"Hot lesbian sex?" Tim asked as he walked up to their table. He quickly began to spin around, frantically looking for the action. "Where, where?" Brooke and Luke laughed at him, but Haley and Nathan were too busy glaring at each other. After a moment, Nathan pulled his gaze away to greet his friend.  
  
"So, how's it going so far?" he asked him. "How many guys have you picked up with that hot pink nail polish?" Tim glared at him before slipping into the booth beside Luke.  
  
"I'll have you know," Tim began. "Three girls have already come up to me and asked me to dance." Luke patted him on the back in congratulations, trying to break the tension that had fallen over the table at Nathan's angry comments.  
  
"Good, for you buddy."  
  
"So, how come I didn't see you dancing?" Nathan asked. Haley watched him in surprise. She was used to Nathan teasing and making fun of Tim, hell they all did that, but his voice was bordering on the edge of nasty and she really didn't find it attractive at all. "What's wrong, noticed they had Adam's apples?"  
  
"Dude..." Tim breathed, trying to figure out why Nathan was being so mean.  
  
"Nathan," Haley warned. Nathan turned to look at her. "What's gotten into you?"  
  
"I'm just sick of this idiot," he snapped, flinging his hand in Tim's direction. The others at the table dropped their eyes, getting uncomfortable at the argument they knew was coming. "He is always talking about getting laid." He turned to Tim. "Maybe if you stopped being a moron, you'd actually get a girl."  
  
"Nathan, that's enough," Haley snapped, noticing the genuinely hurt look on Tim's face. Tim had gotten used to the teasing things that they would always say to him because he knew they were just that; teasing. Nathan was just being plan hurtful.  
  
"God, what are you my mother?"  
  
"Come on, man, just calm do..."  
  
"Shut up, Luke, "Haley and Nathan both snapped at the same time. Luke immediately shut his mouth.  
  
"All you've done since we got here is attack me every time I open my mouth."  
  
"That's because everything you've had to say has been offending," Haley shot back. Nathan shook his head and started to get up. "Where are you going?"  
  
"Away from you," he answered shortly, storming off and getting lost in the crowd. Just as he was leaving, Peyton and Jake approached.  
  
"What was that about?" Peyton asked, taking the seat that Nathan just left, Jake getting in beside her. After she saw the sour look on Haley's face, she turned to Brooke for answers.  
  
"They were just having their daily lover's spat," Brooke explained. Haley whipped around and glared at her. Brooke just laughed it off and threw an arm around her shoulders. "Aww, come on, Hales. This happens all the time. Nathan blows up over nothing and takes down whatever's in his way. This time, it just happened to be Tim."  
  
"She's right," Luke agreed. "He'll take a walk, realize what an ass he was to you, come back and beg for your forgiveness." Haley looked at him, hopefully. "You'll be grinding on the dance floor by the end of the night."  
  
"You think?"  
  
There was a chorus of 'yeah' and 'of course' from everyone at the table. Nobody noticed that Peyton didn't say anything. She watched as a smile broke out on Haley's face and she started up a conversation with Brooke about makeup. She turned and spotted Nathan standing at the bar, talking to some girl. A really bad feeling washed over her. She knew that this time was going to be different. Tonight was the start of something that was going to change all of them. She looked around the table at all her friends and was afraid of what might happen to their friendships if...she stopped at Tim.  
  
"Why are Tim's fingernails pink?"  
  
OTH  
  
All done for now. I know it wasn't that good, but I promise that it will get better. I have everything all planned out. Please reply to tell me what you think. Thanks.  
  
Britney 


	5. In Da Club

Author's Note: Thanks for all the replies everyone. I love hearing what you have to say. Please keep them coming.  
  
OTH  
  
"What's wrong, babe?"  
  
After ordering their drinks and getting something to eat, everybody was off to do their thing. Brooke and Lucas were off in the bathroom doing god knows what, Haley and Tim were off dancing up a storm on the floor and Nathan was nowhere to be seen. Peyton and Jake were sitting at the table because Peyton had insisted that they stay there so they didn't lose it. Peyton watched as Haley laughed at Tim's dancing.  
  
"Huh?" she grunted, knowing that Jake said something, but she was too busy watching her friends to hear exactly what he said.  
  
"I asked what's wrong?" Jake repeated, laying a hand on her thigh to try and get her attention back on him. Finally, after a few more moments, she reluctantly turned to him, a fake smile firmly in place.  
  
"What makes you think that something's wrong?" Peyton asked sweetly, hoping that he didn't hear the concern in her voice. She looked into his eyes and knew that he wasn't going to fall for it. He just knew her way too well.  
  
"Don't try that," Jake stated, trying to sound as stern as he possibly could. She found it kind of hard to take him seriously, he's just too cute when he's trying to sound serious like that, but she didn't laugh.  
  
"I'm not trying anything," Peyton told him. She hating lying to him, but she wasn't going to concern him over something that might turn out to be nothing. Jake was the kind of guy to worry much more than it was needed, and she didn't want to cause any trouble until she knew what was going on.  
  
"Hey," he began. He gently took her chin and guided her face so she was looking him in the eyes. She knew she was done, she could never say no to him. "I know you better than that. Something is wrong and I want to know what it is."  
  
"It's nothing for you to worry about."  
  
"So there is something wrong?" Peyton nods slightly and shrugs her shoulders at the same time, hoping it makes it seem like it's nothing that important. "If it's got you worried, than I want to be able to worry with you. What's going on?"  
  
"Please, Jake," she begins. "I don't know anything yet, I'm probably just overreacting." He looks at her doubtfully. "Really, just let it go. I'm not even thinking about it anymore." That was a totally lie, it was all that she was thinking about, but she wasn't about to tell him that.  
  
"Are you sure?" he asked. Before she could answer, Luke and Brooke came over and slid back into their spots. Peyton took the opportunity to pull out of Jake's grip and turned to obverse the new arrivals.  
  
"Hey," Brooke greeted, trying hard to sound casual. Peyton smiled at her as she turned to look at Luke's bright red face.  
  
"Hey," he said too, but he wasn't as convincing as Brooke. Peyton gave them a once over and her smile widened when she noticed Luke's pants. "What?" He was getting uncomfortable under her stare.  
  
"You're, ah, wearing Brooke's belt," she informed him. Both Brooke and Luke's eyes traveled to their belts, realizing they both had the wrong belts on and laughed nervously.  
  
"That's weird," Brooke commented. Luke mumbled something under his breath as he and Brooke undid their belts and switched them around. "I wonder how that happened."  
  
"Yeah, I wonder," Jake laughed, but stopped when Luke glared at him.  
  
"Maybe you guys got too caught up in the hot bathroom sex to realize that you had the wrong belts on." Peyton smiled innocently at Brooke when she glared at her.  
  
"I'd watch it if I were you, P. Sawyer," Brooke warned. Peyton held up her hands, indicating that she was going to let it go. Brooke forced a smile at her before looking around the table. "Where is everyone?"  
  
"Tim asked Hales to dance after you two disappeared," Jake answered, pointing to where the two friends were dancing. Well, Tim was dancing, Haley was just kind of moving to the beat because she was too busy laughing at Tim's moves to concentrate on her own. Brooke and Luke laughed as they watched Tim, too.  
  
"Nate hasn't come back yet?"  
  
"Nope," Peyton answered, hoping the fear couldn't be detected in her voice. She did a quick sweep of the club to see if she could see him. Still nothing. "Last time I saw him, he was talking to some skank over at the bar."  
  
"I don't suppose you see the skank anywhere do you?" Brooke asked, afraid of the answer herself. Before Peyton could answer, Tim and Haley walked up to the table, both had huge grins plaster on their faces.  
  
"Hey!" Haley greeted them, bumping Brooke with her hip to get her to move over so she could fit in. Luke shoved over some, leaving her enough room and Tim slid in on the other side, beside Peyton.  
  
"Nice moves," Luke said to Tim, who was completely out of breath from dancing so hard. He nodded his head and smiled at him, not realizing that he was teasing him.  
  
"Thanks, man."  
  
"So where did you guys head off to?" Haley asked, nudging Brooke's shoulder with her elbow as she took a sip of her drink.  
  
"We just went somewhere more quite so we could talk," Brooke answered, knowing that everyone at the table knew what they were really doing. Everyone laughed at that and started to get caught up in conversation. Peyton happen to glance over at the door and saw Nathan reenter the club, skank by his side and buttoning up his jeans. The girl tried to lean up and kiss him goodbye, but he brushed her off and made his way over towards them. Peyton immediately diverted her gaze, not wanting him to know that she say him.  
  
"Hey, guys," he said when he reached them. Silence fell over the table when he spoke and everyone but Peyton stared at him.  
  
"Hey, man," both Jake and Luke greeted him, since he didn't do anything to offend him. He smirked at them; happy that at not everyone hated him. He turned Tim next.  
  
"Look, man," he began, getting uncomfortable. He felt weird enough apologizing to Tim enough as it was, everyone watching it was even worse. "About what I said earlier, I was just angry and you were in the wrong place at the wrong time."  
  
"It's okay, dude," Tim told him, smiling up at him. He had always worshiped the ground that Nathan walked on, and he was so happy that Nathan cared enough to apologize over hurting his feelings. "You didn't mean it."  
  
"I should've said it in the first place," Nathan continued. Normally, he would have just slapped Tim on the back and everything would be okay, but he knew that Haley was pissed at him for being mean to Tim so he had to make this as emotional as he could stomach if she was going to forgive him. "We cool?"  
  
"You know it." They hit fists and laughed it off. Brooke and Haley watched the exchanged in surprise. Tim caught Brooke staring at them. "What?"  
  
"That's it?" she questioned, gesturing between the two. "You guys are all made up now?" They looked at each other before nodding. "That's all?" Again they nodded. "If I had said that stuff to Haley, I would be on my hands and knees begging for forgiveness."  
  
"Not to mention buying me pretty things," Haley commented, smiling. Nathan let out a sigh of relieve, taking the smile as a sign of forgiveness. "So you removed the stick from your ass?" He laughed.  
  
"That I did." Peyton looked up at the light tone in his voice. She shook her head, not knowing how he could be so cool about what he obviously just finished doing.  
  
"What calmed you down?" she asked. She always wondered what happened to him when he stormed off like that. He would be gone for almost an hour and than he would come back in a better mood, beg her for forgiveness and everything was perfect again.  
  
"Oh, uh, umm, I just..." he stuttered. Peyton watched as the panic came across his face. If there was any doubt about where he was just moments ago, his reaction to Haley's question just confirmed it. "I just needed some air."  
  
"Okay," Haley nodded, accepting the answer, as did everyone else. Nathan let out another sigh of relief.  
  
"So, do you forgive me?"  
  
"Don't I always?"  
  
"Thankfully," he answered, returning the smile she was giving him. Brooke suddenly erupted in a coughing fit and everyone looked at her in surprise.  
  
"What was that about?"  
  
"You guys were making me sick," she answered, pointing to the two of them and imitating the look they were giving each other. "Would you just get out of here already?"  
  
"Come on, baby," Haley said, getting up and taking his hand. "Let's dance."  
  
"But you said you were tired of dancing," Tim pointed out. Haley laughed and gave him her best stunning smile.  
  
"No offense, Timmy," she told him, sweetly. "But Nathan's a better dancer than you." He pouted at her and took a sip of his drink. "Bye guys." They waved at them and went off to grind away the rest of the night.  
  
"Come on, Broody," Brooke exclaimed, grabbing Luke's hand and pulling him out of the booth. "I wanna dance too." Luke grumbled something that nobody understood and followed her out to the floor, joining their friends.  
  
"Oh," Tim cheered, as he noticed a girl watching their table. "I think we have a biter. I'm gonna go ask her to dance." He moved to get out of the booth, but stopped when Jake grabbed his arm.  
  
"No dancing," he suggested. He looked at the girl. "Go up and talk to her, buy her a drink, sing to her, propose to her, anything. Just don't dance."  
  
"Got it." He quickly got out of the booth and made his way over to the girl. Jake laughed at the quickness in his movements, but Peyton was too busy watching Nathan and Haley laughing on the dance floor.  
  
"Are you sure I shouldn't be worried?" Jake questioned, noticing that she was staring off into space again. He tried to follow her gaze, but wasn't sure where she was looking. Peyton's stomach topped to her feet when as saw Haley kiss Nathan before wrapping her arms around his waist.  
  
"I think maybe you should be," Peyton answered. There was no doubt in her mind what Nathan did tonight and by the look on his face, he wasn't too worried about it. She watched as Haley smiled up at him with such trust in her eyes and it broke Peyton's heart to know that soon the only thing to be seen in Haley's eyes was going to be gut wrenching pain.  
  
OTH  
  
That's all for now. Please, please, please reply to tell me what you think. Thanks.  
  
Britney 


	6. True Colors Shining Through

Author's Note: Hey all. Thanks so much for the replies. I'm glad that you are all hating Nathan right now, that was the plan. Anyways, you'll probably hate him even more in this chapter, but please read it anyway. Enjoy.  
  
OTH  
  
"See, Hales? It wasn't that bad."  
  
After Nathan came back and made up with Haley, the rest of the night had been boring. Well, not boring because they were all dancing and stuff, but there were no other dramatics. Nathan and Haley spent the rest of the night all over each other, Brooke and Lucas kept disappearing, Peyton and Jake stayed at the table talking about anything but what was bothering Peyton and Tim had actually ended leaving with the girl he went to talk to around eleven. They only agreed to staying until midnight, the boys had a basketball thing tomorrow and the girls had a day of shopping planned out.  
  
"You're right," Haley agreed, bowing down in front of Brooke in a form of apology. Brooke smiled at her realizing that Haley was drunk. She loved drunk Haley, she was so much fun. "I bow down before the almighty Brooke Davis, Queen of the Clubs."  
  
"Why, thank you." Brooke laughed as Haley stumbled a bit when she tried to straighten up. Nathan steadied her and they continued to walk out of the club. The fresh air was good for everybody.  
  
"So, I guess we'll see you guys tomorrow," Nathan said, starting to pull Haley towards his car. Peyton left Jake's side and walked up to Brooke and linked her arm through her's, pulling her away from Luke.  
  
"Ask Haley to sleepover," Peyton instructed, watching as Nathan and Haley said goodbye to Luke and Jake. Brooke looked at her strangely.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Just do it," Peyton ordered. Nathan was currently prying Haley out of Jake's arms; she was always so clingy when she was drunk.  
  
"But I kinda wanted Luke to come over..."  
  
"Ask!"  
  
"Hales!" Brooke called out. At the sound of her name, Haley immediately dropped out of Jake's arms and came barreling towards Brooke, arms spread wide. "Whoa, hey sweetie." Haley crashed right into Brooke, causing them to both tumble to the ground.  
  
"Brookie!" Haley cheered, not making any movements to get off Brooke. She reached own and poked her on the nose. "I love Brookie!"  
  
"I love you, too, Hales," Brooke replied unsure. She laughed at the goofy grin that was on Haley's face. "How about you stay over at Brookie's house tonight? You wanna do that?" Haley's face lit up and she nodded her head frantically.  
  
"Yeah," she answered. Whenever Haley was drunk, Brooke always seemed to be her favourite person in the entire world, but nobody knew why. "Always fun at Brookie's." Haley was already starting to sound tired.  
  
"You wanna maybe get her off me?" she asked Peyton, who was just standing there looking down on them. For the first time that night, Peyton had a smile on her face as she watched Haley snuggle up to Brooke.  
  
"Come on, Haley." Peyton reached down and put her arm around Haley's waist, pulling her up into a standing position. Haley started to slump forward, but Peyton caught her before she could hit the ground. "How much did she have?"  
  
"What am I, the alcohol police?" Brooke mumbled, pushing herself off the ground. She put an arm around Haley's waist, draped Haley's around over her shoulder and they brought Haley back over to the guys. "Oh, no, don't worry, we got it."  
  
"Was it wrong that I was totally aroused by that?" Luke asked, indicating to where Haley had been on top of Brooke moments before. Nathan laughed and moved to take Haley off their hands, but stopped in his tracks at the death stare he received from Peyton.  
  
"We got her," she hissed at him. He looked at her confused, thrown by the anger directed at him. "She's staying over at Brooke's tonight."  
  
"Yay, Brookie," Haley mumbled, half asleep. She moved more weight towards Brooke's side. "Always fun at Brookie's." This was clearly news to both Luke and Nathan.  
  
"But I thought I was coming over so we could..."  
  
"Change of plans, Broody," Brooke told him, smiling sadly at him. "Besides, I love drunk Haley and we all know that the really is mutual." Haley giggled even though she didn't understand a word Brooke was saying.  
  
"Okay," Luke nodded, walking over and relieving Peyton of her duties. "I'll drive you guys to your house." Haley smiled when she saw Luke beside her. She leaned over and laid her head on his shoulder.  
  
"It's my Lukie Bear."  
  
"No," Brooke warned. "That's my Lukie Bear, so keep your drunk hands off him." Haley nodded, but didn't move her head. Brooke rolled her eyes and looked at Peyton. "Aren't you coming?"  
  
"Nope," she answered. "I have something else I have to do."  
  
"But you just made me...."  
  
"Bye, guys!" Brooke glared at her, before turning around and walking to the car with Luke, Haley still stumbling with them. They got in the car, Luke in the driver's seat and Brooke looking after Haley in the backseat. With one last wave from Luke and a glare from Brooke, they were gone, leaving Jake, Nathan and Peyton alone.  
  
"What was that about?" Jake asked, turning to face his girlfriend. Peyton just shrugged, acting like she had not idea what just happened. Nathan cleared his throat, getting uncomfortable just standing there.  
  
"Well, since my girlfriend was just kidnapped, I'm gonna go," he told them. "I'll see you guys tomorrow." He started to walk to his car.  
  
"Wait," Peyton called out, trying not to sound angry. "I'm coming with you."  
  
"Uh," Nathan looked at her in surprise. "No you're not." He watched as Peyton leaned in and whispered something in Jake's ear. He nodded and kissed her quickly on the lips before waving to Nate and going in the opposite direction to his car. Peyton walked past him and stood beside the passenger side of his car.  
  
"Don't just stand there," she snapped. "Let's go." He rolled his eyes and opened his door, unlocking the rest of them so Peyton could get in.  
  
"Why exactly are you coming with me?"  
  
"Haley said she left something at your place," Peyton answered. "I'll just go in, grab it and leave. It'll be like I was never there."  
  
"Whatever," he muttered, starting the car and driving in the direction of his apartment.  
  
OTH  
  
The car ride over had been made in complete silence. Nathan didn't have an desire to converse with her and she wasn't sure if she would be able to stop herself from screaming at him. Peyton followed behind Nathan as he made his way to his apartment. He unlocked the door and went in, leaving it open for her to follow.  
  
"I don't know what you're looking for," he began, starting to unbutton his blue shirt and walking towards the kitchen to get a drink. "But all her stuff is in the living..." He stopped when he heard his door slam shut. He put down the orange juice cartoon and walked back into the main room. "Um, what's going on?"  
  
"Do not even start with me," she snapped. He recognized the look on her face immediately; he had seen it plenty of times when they were going out. He flinched when he saw just how angry she was; she was never this bad before.  
  
"What the hell is your problem?" he asked, moving to sit on the couch. Peyton took a step forward.  
  
"If I were you," she hissed. "I'd stay at least ten feet away from me right now."  
  
"Yeah, okay." He rolled his eyes, not taking her seriously. He didn't know what she was going on about, but he stayed in his spot. Peyton continued to stare him down. "So, what is this about again?"  
  
"I know what you did tonight," was the only thing she was able to get out. She knew that if she said anymore she might scream and she didn't want the neighbors to complain. A flash of panic came to Nathan's eyes, but it disappeared just as quickly as it came.  
  
"And what would that be?" Deciding to play it cool, he flopped down on the couch and flipped on the television. He was watching her out of the corner of his eye, not wanting to get hit in the back of the head with something heavy.  
  
"You slept with that girl," she spat at him. She moved to stand in front of Nathan, blocking his view of the screen. "No, slept with is too nice for what you must have done with that skank. You fucked her."  
  
"You have no idea what you're talking about," he answered, moving a little to the left in an attempt to see the screen. "Would you mind, I'm trying to watch the game."  
  
"How could you do that to her?"  
  
"Do what?"  
  
"Do not play dumb with me, Nathan," Peyton ordered. "I saw you two come back in the club tonight. You were buttoning up your jeans and she tried to kiss you."  
  
"That proves nothing..."  
  
"How could you do that to Haley?" Peyton repeated her question. "You love her, I know you do." Nathan rolled his eyes and turned off of TV, sensing that he wasn't going to be able to see any of the game he was trying to watch.  
  
"And how would you know that?"  
  
"I know you better than anyone, Nathan," Peyton explained. "I see the way you look at her, you never looked at me that way. I see you smile whenever she walks into the room. I know you, and I know you love her. The only thing I don't know is how you could hurt her like that."  
  
"Hey," he said, holding up his hands. "What Haley doesn't know, can't hurt her." A look of understand came to Peyton's face.  
  
"This isn't the first time this has happened, is it?" she asked, her voice not holding the venom it did before. She was in too much shock to sound pissed. "Every time you guys get in a fight you go off and an hour later you're back, in a better mood than before."  
  
"I don't know what you're talk..."  
  
"That's where you go," she stated. "You go find some whore, screw her and then come back like nothing happened."  
  
"Look, it's just sex," Nathan told her, standing up. "It doesn't mean anything to me."  
  
"How can you say that?" Peyton demands, the anger returning to her voice. "You know how special sex is to Haley. She's the only smart one left in the group. She's waiting until she gets married so when you two finally do it, it will be special and not tainted."  
  
"Believe me, I've heard this all from her already." Nathan walked over to his stereo and sorted through his CD collection. "You know how I am I if don't get any, I'm a complete asshole. I don't want to do anything I'll regret. I don't want to lose her."  
  
"That's your excuse?" Peyton asked, not believing he was saying this. "You sleep with other women because you love Haley so much?"  
  
"Yeah, that sounds about right." He found the CD he was looking for and put it in and pressed play. Peyton flinched when she heard the beat. God, she hated rap music.  
  
"So, this is all in an effort not to hurt Haley?" He nodded and sat back down on the couch.  
  
"Yeah," he said. "And if you don't want to hurt her, than I suggest you don't tell her about this little conversation." Peyton narrowed her eyes at him and got in his face, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt.  
  
"Either you tell her," Peyton began. "Or I will." She let him go and stalked out of the apartment, slamming the door again on her way out. Nathan shook his head, knowing that Peyton wasn't going to say anything. Peyton loved Haley too much to hurt her like that. And so did he.  
  
OTH  
  
All done for now. I hope you are not too mad at me. Please, please, please tell me what you think. Review if you think I should continue. 


	7. Could it Get Anymore Interesting?

Author's Note: Thanks for the amazing replies, guys. They give me more motavation to update sooner. Please keep them coming. As for those of you who aren't sure how Nathan is going to redeem himself, I haven't really thought that far ahead. I'm planning on a happy ending, but with me, you can never be sure.  
  
OTH  
  
"Hey, Brooke. You guys here?"  
  
After Peyton left Nathan's apartment, she was fuming. What the hell was his problem? And that excuse was a load of crap. She knew that Nathan couldn't possibly believe anything he had said. He was just a horny little boy, who tried to charm his way out of every situation. She was going to go home, but decided that she was too angry to go to sleep and she didn't really feel like being alone. If she went over to Jake's, she knew there was no way she could hide it from him in her current emotional state. So there was only one place to go. Peyton stuck her head in the door, looking around the dark house.  
  
"Well, if it isn't Miss Invite and Run," Brooke's voice filled the house. "We're in the living room." Peyton fully stepped into the mansion and closed the door behind her.  
  
"How come all the lights are off?" she asked as she venture further in. She knew exactly where she was going since she had been in this house more than a million times over the years. She knew her way around there with her eyes closed, or in this case, in the dark.  
  
"I got trapped before I could turn them on."  
  
"Trapped?" Peyton repeated in confusion. As she rounded the corner to the room her friends were in, she could hear the faint sounds of the television. When she entered the room she could see Brooke sitting on the couch, her back towards her. "Where's Hales?"  
  
"She's here," Brooke answered, pointing to her lap. Peyton walked in front of her to join her on the couch. With the glow of the TV, Peyton could she Haley stretched out the length of the furniture with her head resting comfortably in Brooke's lap. She was sound asleep.  
  
"How'd she manage that?" Peyton asked, gently lifting Haley's legs up and slipping under them. When she was seated comfortably at the opposite end of the couch, she laid Haley's legs back on her thighs.  
  
"She was pretty out of it by the time we got here," Brooke explained, turning down the TV. "Luke had to carry her in. We were supposed to watch a movie, but as soon as I sat down she passed out."  
  
"She must have just inhaled her drinks tonight," Peyton commented. "Usually when she's drunk she can go all night." Brooke laughed.  
  
"Believe me, I know that better than anyone," Brooke replied. "Why is it that every time she's hammered, I always end up underneath her?" Despite everything that had happened to her tonight, Peyton had to laugh.  
  
"Drunk Haley loves her Brookie," Peyton quoted her, doing her best drunken impression. They shared a laugh for a moment before quieting down, staring, but not watching, the show that was on the TV. Brooke was subconsciously running her hands over Haley's head and Peyton was playing with a thread on Haley's pant leg. "Brooke, can I ask you a question?"  
  
"Sure," Brooke answered. She grabbed the converter and switched off the TV, leaving them in the dark. They still continued with their movements. Brooke turned her head towards Peyton, even though she couldn't see her. "What's up?"  
  
"If you knew something that would hurt one of your friends," Peyton began, moving in her seat a little. She was happy that Brooke couldn't see her.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Would you tell them?" Peyton finished. She couldn't believe she was talking about this, especially with Haley lying right there, but she really needed to know what to do. She didn't plan on telling Brooke what was going on, but she wanted to know what Brooke would do.  
  
"Well, I guess it depends," Brooke finally answered. She felt Haley move slightly, but she didn't wake up.  
  
"On what?"  
  
"How hurt will the person be hurt if you tell them?" Peyton thought about the look on Haley's face if she found out about what Nathan was doing behind her back. She quickly tried to think of something else.  
  
"A lot," Peyton answered, quietly. She wasn't sure why she felt the need to whisper, she was certain that Haley wouldn't wake up. "Torn up, devastated, broken. And that's the understatement of the century."  
  
"Okay," Brooke sighed, indicating that she got the idea. "So, what if you don't tell them? Will they still get hurt?" Now it was Peyton's turn to sigh. That was the million-dollar question.  
  
"Maybe," she answered. She shook her head, thinking that she was being foolish for even thinking that Nathan could keep this hidden. "Probably." She leaned her head against the back of the couch and closed her eyes. "Eventually."  
  
"And you're certain that they will end up hurt no matter what?"  
  
"Maybe not," Peyton answered. "There is a slim chance that they might never find out." Peyton started to play with the laces on Haley's shoe.  
  
"It's slim?" Brooke repeated, looking over at Peyton. Their eyes were starting to get used to the dark and they could somewhat see each other. "But it's still there?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"How important is it that they know?"  
  
"Very."  
  
"Then I guess it depends on how much you love this friend." Peyton's eyes traveled down to Haley's face. She smiled when she saw that Haley was sucking on her thumb.  
  
"A lot," she whispered. She let out a groan of frustration. "God, Brooke, what am I gonna do?"  
  
"I don't know, Pey," Brooke answered. She was desperately trying to figure out what Peyton was talking about, but she had no idea. She just hoped it didn't have to do with her because she really didn't want to be hurt. "What do you think you should do?"  
  
"I think I should tell them," Peyton answered, not missing a beat. "I know that as their friend, it's what I'm supposed to do, but...I don't want to do it, you know. I don't want to have to be the person to take away all their happiness."  
  
"I get that," Brooke answered. She let their conversation hang in the air for a moment. "So, what are you gonna do?"  
  
"I don't know yet," Peyton sighed. She turned to head to look at Brooke to find that she was staring down at Haley. "What would you do?"  
  
"Honestly?" Peyton nodded her head, afraid of what the answer would be. "I wouldn't tell them." Peyton looked surprised, she thought for sure that she would have said to tell them the truth.  
  
"You wouldn't?"  
  
"I mean, from where I'm sitting," she began, looking down at her lap. "Which is in a puddle of drool by the way." Peyton let out a little laugh, before going back into serious mode. "It looks like this friend is happy right now. And from what you said, there's a chance that she always could be. So I would just let things happen, see where they go."  
  
"But what if I don't tell them and they find out some other way?" Peyton questioned. That's really what was bothering her the most. When I came down to it, Haley was way too important to her to lose over this. "They'll be so pissed if they find out I knew and didn't tell them."  
  
"If they're really your friend, they'll forgive you." Brooke could tell that wasn't the answer Peyton had wanted. "Look, I don't know the whole situation and I don't know your friend, but...from everything you've told me, I wouldn't tell them. But that's just me."  
  
"I'll think about it," Peyton finally decided. It's not like she expected to have the answer right away, but she had hoped that things might get a little clearer. Brooke was about to say something, but stopped when she heard a grumble escape Haley's lips. They both watched as she curled up and snuggled into Brooke.  
  
"She's adorable, isn't she?" Brooke asks. "It's certainly no secret what Nathan sees in her." Peyton's eyes stayed locked on the smile that spread across Haley's face from whatever dream she was having.  
  
"Yeah," Peyton agreed. "She's great." They talked for another five minutes before deciding that they should get some sleep too. After trying, unsuccessfully to move Haley, they finally ended up just sleeping in their current positions.  
  
OTH  
  
"I thought we were going shopping?" Peyton asked, not happy about having to hang around the Rivercourt. She was looking forward to an entire day were she didn't have to see Nathan's face, now she had to watch Haley and Nathan making out together.  
  
"We are," Brooke answered from her spot beside the blonde. They were sitting on the bench watching the boys trying to teach Haley how to play. "But Tim called Luke to tell him that he hooked up with some girl last night and after they got it on, she actually stuck around. He said that they go to talking and they really, and I quote; connected and all that s hit."  
  
"And this interrupted our shopping trip because..."  
  
"He's bringing her here so we can all meet her," Brooke explained, clapping loud when Haley made a basket.  
  
"And where did he meet her, again?"  
  
"She was at the club last night," Brooke answered. A smile came to her lips. "Luke said he sounded really excited over the phone. He said he couldn't wait for us to meet her."  
  
"So, Tim has, like, a girlfriend now?" Peyton asked, smiling at the thought.  
  
"It seems that way." Brooke leaned towards Peyton. "You can't tell anyone, but Luke said that it sounded like Tim was in love."  
  
"Aww, that's so cute," Peyton gushed. "I can't wait to see how cute Tim is when he's in love." They both laughed until they spotted two people coming their way. They both jumped off the bench and joined the others on the court.  
  
"They're here," Brooke cheered, running towards Lucas. Luke told her to shush before giving her a quick kiss on the lips. Brooke rolled her eyes at his behavior and put his arms around her waist.  
  
"I can't wait to meet the girl that would go out with Tim," Nathan commented, making sure to keep his tone light so Haley didn't blow up at him. Haley just laughed and buried her face in his chest. He met Peyton glare and held onto her tighter, kissing the top of her head lovingly, never breaking eye contact with the blonde.  
  
"Be nice," Haley warned. They all turned to greet the new arrivals. Two stomachs dropped when they saw the girl on Tim's arm. Peyton and Nathan quickly glanced at each other before turning back to the girl, wanting to make sure they saw her properly.  
  
"Hey, guys," Tim greeted, waving at them. He had a ridiculously happy smile plastered on his face, they kind of smile only someone in love could have. "I want you to meet Lacy. Lacy, this is Lucas, Brooke, Haley, Nathan, Jake and Peyton."  
  
"Hey, Lacy," everyone said and they all started to converse. Peyton thought she must have been seeing things. She rubbed her eyes and looked again. Nope, she wasn't seeing things. The girl Tim was in love with was still the girl Nathan hooked up with last night.  
  
OTH  
  
That's all for now. What does everyone think? Please, reply to tell me. The more replies, the faster I update. Thanks for reading. 


	8. Shopping Malls and Mall Cops

Author's Note: Thanks for the replies guys. I'm glad that you are all liking this. This chapter isn't really drama filled, but I hope you still like it anyway. Please reply it you like it. Enjoy.  
  
OTH  
  
"Remind me again, why you had to open your big mouth?"  
  
After everybody had been acquainted at the Rivercourt, Brooke had insisted that Lacy join in on the shopping fun. Of course since Haley had no idea what was going on, she had immediately agreed and now here they were. Peyton didn't know what to think of the girl. She seemed nice, maybe a little bit of an airhead, but she thought it was probably just an act, like Brooke did sometimes. She wasn't thinking too highly of her at the moment, since she had seen Haley and Nathan together and didn't mention anything to Haley about it. Then again, Peyton couldn't hold that against her since she had yet to tell Haley what a jackass her boyfriend was.  
  
"I was just playing nice, Pey," Brooke answered, looking to make sure that Lacy wasn't in hear range. She looked over to find that she was over with Haley picking out a new skirt.  
  
"You're never nice to anyone else," Peyton pointed out with a pout. "Why did you have to pick now of all times to be nice?"  
  
"Well, Tim is my friend," Brooke began, pushing through the rack of clothes she was looking at. "Despite what I tell people at school, and he really seems to like her."  
  
"Tim is Tim," Peyton said. "She likes anything with boobs. If we had to play nice with every girl he likes then you would actually have to be nice to your mom."  
  
"Come on, Pey. Was that completely necessary?" Peyton gave her an innocent smile before flipping through the rack as well. "Did you really need to bring up that incident? I thought we all agreed never to mention that again."  
  
"Hey," Peyton began, holding her head up. "I'm just trying to make a point. If I have to use the time Tim made out with your mom, then so be it." Brooke let out a squeak and covered her ears.  
  
"That is a really scary visual place that I didn't need to go to," Brooke complained. When she saw that Peyton wasn't going to continue she dropped her hands and moved to the next rack, the blonde following her.  
  
"Sorry," Peyton mumbled with a laugh. Brooke knew she didn't mean it. They all loved to tease her about that. "I just don't see why you had to invite her?"  
  
"What's the big deal, anyway?" Brooke questioned, not looking up from the red tank top she was looking at. "You don't like Lacy or something?" She held the shirt up to get a better look. She saw flowers on the front, made a disgusted face and threw it back on the display counter.  
  
"It's not that I don't like her," Peyton began, following Brooke over to the sunglass counter. "I don't know her well enough to not like her, but there's just something about her."  
  
"You don't have a crush on Tim, do you?" Brooke asked, looking at her through the pink lenses of the sunglasses she was trying on. "What do you think?"  
  
"Good, if we were in the 70's."  
  
"So, that's a no?"  
  
"A big one." Brooke sighed and took them off, placing them back in their spot before pulling another pair out. "It's not that I have a problem with her being with Tim. I'm happy that he has someone now."  
  
"They just meet last night," Brooke reminded her. "Don't start getting her bridal magazines or anything." She looked in the mirror, mad a disgusted face and put the glasses back. "I'd save those for Haley."  
  
"What?" Peyton asked, thrown by the comment. "Haley and bridal magazines?" A sudden feeling of panic washed through Peyton's skinny body.  
  
"Oh, please," Brooke laughed. "Have you seen the way Nathan looks at her? He's so in love he doesn't know what to do with himself." Brooke wasn't sure what to make of the strange look that came across Peyton's face.  
  
"Yeah," Peyton mumbled. She looked over to where Haley was holding up a shirt for Lacy to see. They both burst out laughing at the funny shirt before moving on.  
  
"What's wrong with you today?" Brooke questioned, catching the pained look in her friend's eyes. "You've been somewhere else since we woke up." Peyton quickly tore her eyes away from Haley and faced Brooke, plastering a fake smile on her face.  
  
"It's nothing," she said. She saw that Brooke didn't quiet believe it so she let out a laugh and bumped her hip into Brooke's. "Seriously, I'm fine. I was just thinking about that problem we talked about last night."  
  
"Oh, yeah," Brooke nodded, finding the perfect glasses and keeping them on her face. "Have you decided what you're going to do about that yet?" Peyton let out a sigh and shook her head regretfully.  
  
"Not yet," Peyton answered. Brooke smiled, hoping to reassure her that everything would be okay. "If you were the friend, would you want me to tell you."  
  
"Oh, God, it is me," Brooke cried, as she removed the glasses. Peyton tried to tell her she was wrong, but Brooke didn't give her the chance. "What do you know? Is Luke cheating on me? Is my mom sleeping with Tim? Cause between the two I think I'd rather have the first one. Oh, God, they're gonna get married! My life is over."  
  
"Brooke, keep it down," Peyton laughed, amused at Brooke little outburst. Almost everyone in the store was looking at them now, trying to figure out why they let a crazy person into such a nice place. Haley and Lacy had heard the outburst and made their way over.  
  
"Did she just say that Tim was sleeping with her mother?" Lacy asked, looking at Brooke who was sitting on the floor in the middle of the store. "Cause I wouldn't want to interfere in anybody's relationship."  
  
"I bet you wouldn't," Peyton snapped at her. Haley and Lacy both looked at her, surprised by her sudden attitude change. She glared at Lacy before turning to Haley. "Would you talk to her? You're the only person she ever listens to."  
  
"Sure," Haley answered, handing her bags over to Lacy. "What did you say to her?"  
  
"Just tell her that my problem has nothing to do with her or Tim or her mother," she answered before walking out of the store. Before Haley could say anything, Lacy interrupted.  
  
"I'll go see what's up with her," she said, pointing to where Peyton had ran off. Haley nodded and Lacy left. Haley looked at all the people staring at her and looked down at Brooke rocking back and forth on the floor. She slowly knelt down in front of her.  
  
"Brooke?" she asked, laying a hand on her shoulder. When Brooke realized it was Haley, she flew into her arm, knocking them both over. This time Brooke was on top. "What the hell is wrong with you?"  
  
"Tim's going to be my new step daddy," she cried. Haley burst out laughing at the seriousness in Brooke's voice. Brooke just cried harder as she saw the people staring at them.  
  
OTH  
  
"Peyton," Lacy called out, trying to catch up with the blonde. "Come on, wait up."  
  
"Just stay away from me," Peyton told her, without turning around or slowing down. Lacy finally decided that if she wanted to get to her, she would have to run. She reached her and grabbed her arm.  
  
"Do you have a problem with me or something?" Lacy questioned, when Peyton didn't say anything. Peyton almost lost it. She wanted to scream at her and yell until she couldn't talk anymore, but there were too many people around.  
  
"Yeah," Peyton spit out through gritted teeth. She ripped her arm out of Lacy's grip. "Believe it or not, I have a big problem with whore's who sleep with my best friend's boyfriend."  
  
"What are you talking about?"  
  
"Stop with the dumb act already," Peyton snapped at her. Lacy took a step back, afraid that Peyton might actually hit her. "I saw you two last night at the club. I saw you come back in right after you screwed him."  
  
"I didn't know he had a girlfriend," Lacy admitted, knowing the excuse was lame even to her. "If I had known than I never would have..."  
  
"Gotten caught?" Peyton filled in for her. Lacy looked down at her feet. "I didn't see you falling all over yourself to tell her this morning. In fact, if I remember correctly you insisted at being attached at her hip." Lacy looked around and noticed that some people were starting to look at them.  
  
"Come here," she said, grabbing Peyton's arm and leading her over to a bench.  
  
"I'm not a dog," Peyton snapped, ripping her arm out again. "I can walk myself."  
  
"Sorry." They both sat down on at opposite ends of the bench. "You're right, I didn't say anything to Haley, and I don't plan on it. It's really not my place." Peyton rolled her eyes and played with the hem of her shirt, knowing what was coming next. "And you know what, I don't see you telling Haley either, and your supposed to be her best friend."  
  
"I know that," Peyton muttered. "I just see how happy he makes her and I can't bring myself to hurt her. I've seen the look on her face when she's hurt, multiply it by like a million and that's what she's look like if I told her." She looked up at Lacy. "I just can't do that to her."  
  
"I understand," Lacy said, moving closer. "I wouldn't want to do that to my best friend either."  
  
"But I have to anyway, right?"  
  
"You don't have to do anything." Lacy looked back at the store they had come out of to make sure that Haley was still preoccupied by Brooke. "Look, Haley seems like a really cool person and the last thing I want to be is the other woman."  
  
"I know," Peyton answered. "If I do end up telling her, I won't tell her it was you."  
  
"Thanks," Lacy said. "Besides, I really like Tim and I don't want him to get hurt either." Peyton nodded. "So, do you think we should go rescue Haley from the hysterical Brooke?"  
  
"Yeah," Peyton decided, standing up. "Let's go." They made their way back to the store, pushing through the crowd that had gathered, to find Brooke lying on top of Haley. Brooke was crying while Haley was laughing. Lacy looked over at the counter to find the cahier starting to call security.  
  
"You better get them up before security comes," Lacy suggested. Just as Peyton was about to step forward, two mall cops came running in.  
  
"Too late." They both started laughing at the scene in front of them.  
  
OTH  
  
That's all for now. I hope you like it. Please reply for faster updates. Thanks. I'm not above blackmail  
  
Britney 


	9. It's About Damn Time

Author's Note: Hey, all. A big thanks again to everyone who reviewed, and if you didn't, you better this time. Anyway, please continue to reply. Thanks.  
  
OTH  
  
"Okay, tell the story again."  
  
After the girls' fun filled trip to the mall, they contacted the boys and they all made plans to meet up at the Café for dinner. The girls had spent all their money at the mall and they knew the boys were too cheap to pay for them, so they agreed that with Luke and Haley's connections with Karen, they could get everything for free. All the guys were on one side and the girls were on the other, that way Nathan and Haley couldn't gross everyone out with all their cuddling and kissing. Peyton was sitting beside Haley so she was forced to watch them staring into each other eyes and she could feel them playing footsies under the table. Their whole display made her sick. She had to fight the urge to lunge across the table and kill the boy.  
  
"Please, don't," Haley whined, wanting to forget everything that had happened that day. She had to admit that it was quite funny, it would have been even funnier if it had happened to someone else.  
  
"Oh, come one, Hales," Peyton laughed, nudging her playfully in the ribs. "You have to admit that it was very funny."  
  
"You wouldn't think it was funny if you were the one being 'arrested' by the mall cops," Haley pouted. The boys all burst out laughing again, all wishing they could have been there to see it happen.  
  
"Hey, I was arrested too," Brooke pointed out. "And I think it's funny."  
  
"Well, it was your fault," Haley replied, playing with the napkin that was laid out in front of her. "If you hadn't lunged on top of me and cried your eyes out in the middle of Fred Segal than the cashier never would have called in security."  
  
"Well, excuse me for freaking out when I find out that Tim is gonna be my new step daddy." Tim's eyes widened at the news, they had forgotten to mention that the first time they had told the story.  
  
"What?" Tim asked from the end of the table. "I'm gonna be your new what?"  
  
"Relax, Timmy," Peyton told him, happy that she had something to distract her from Nathan's glares. She wasn't sure how much longer she could hold out and she didn't think it would be for business if she murdered him in the middle of the Café.  
  
"Yeah," Brooke said, laughing at the genuinely scared look on Tim's face. Boy, was she glad that her mom wasn't that stupid. "Peyton was just trying to be a big ol' meanie."  
  
"You're the one that came to that conclusion," Peyton pointed out. She saw the Brooke was about to say something, knowing it would be about her truth telling dilemma, she quickly changed the subject. "Tell them what happened after the cops came in."  
  
"I don't suppose either of you were strip searched were you?" Tim just had to ask. The question earned him glares from both Luke and Nathan.  
  
"Oh, yeah, Tim," Haley commented, nodding her head vicariously. "The mall cops at Tree Hill Town Center strip searched us. They do that to all the teenyboppers who think they deserve the five finger discount."  
  
"Really?" Tim asked, completely oblivious to her sarcastic tone. "Did you notice if they had any hot lady cops down there? Cause I wouldn't mind having to steal something to get a little action."  
  
"And I thought I was going to have to call him daddy," Brooke sighed, thanking God for the hundredth time today. Tim raised an eyebrow at her.  
  
"Hey, no one said you couldn't call me daddy."  
  
"Hales," Luke begged her. "You wanna continue with your story before I'm forced to kick Tim's ass?" They all laughed as Tim sank into his seat. Lacy shook her head and ruffled his hair.  
  
"So, the cops come running in," Brooke replied before Haley could. "They find me laying on top of Haley." She points her finger at Tim. "Say anything and die." He sank further into his chair. "I'm crying like there's no tomorrow and Haley's laughing her ass off at me..."  
  
"So they immediately think we're on drugs or something," Haley takes over. Her and Brooke finish telling the rest of the story about how they were dragged off and locked up in 'mall jail' until Haley could explain what happened. Karen came over near the end of the story to find that everyone was laughing and asked what was so funny. They told the story over again and the boys still found it funny.  
  
"So, what were you doing this whole time?" Karen asked Brooke, getting out of the chair she had pulled up so she could listen to the story. Haley glared at the other girl as she started to laugh.  
  
"I was still crying on the floor," Brooke answered. "I wouldn't let go of Haley's leg when she was talking to the cop." Karen smirked at the look on Haley's face, knowing that Haley wasn't really mad at Brooke for leaving her to explain everything that happened.  
  
"I can't wait to tell your parents that their honor-roll daughter was arrested," she said, throwing Haley a knowing smile. Haley rolled her eyes.  
  
"Yeah, good luck getting a hold of them," Haley mumbled. "I don't know where they are this week." Karen's smile faded, realizing that Haley's parents were once again out of town. They were always leaving her alone in that big house. It was a mystery to Karen how anybody could not want such a wonderful girl like Haley. The table became quiet at the comment; even Tim knew not to say anything.  
  
"Well, you know that you're family, sweetie," Karen told her, rubbing her back. "You are always welcome to stay over at our house, even if Luke isn't there." Haley smiled, thankful that she had such a wonderful 'mom' in her life. She was also thankful that she had taken the heat off her and onto Luke.  
  
"I'm always there," he protested. He threw a glance Brooke's way, only to find that she wasn't meeting his stare. "When am I not there?"  
  
"When you say your staying over at Haley's and you're really at Brooke's."  
  
"I can't believe you...I would never..." Luke started, crumbling under the pressure of his mother's gaze. "Never would I..."  
  
"So, what can I get you all?" Luke let out a breath, thankful that his mother wasn't going to continue to embarrass him in front of his friends. They all ordered their meals, all getting what they usually get. Peyton once again felt sick to her stomach when Nathan ordered for Haley, and even worse when Haley thought it was sweet of him. "And for you?"  
  
"I'll just have a burger," Lacy answered. Tim immediately jumped in, holding up Lacy's hand.  
  
"Ms. Roe, this is my girlfriend Lacy," he introduced them, proudly. Karen smiled down at her sweetly and shook her hand.  
  
"It's nice to meet you, Ms. Roe."  
  
"It's nice to meet you too," Karen replied. "But please, call me Karen." Lacy nodded and Karen went off to go make dinner. She was thankful that there weren't many other customers in the place; she was too tired to deal with anyone else. Plus, she knew that the teenagers were going to make a lot of noise.  
  
"So, what's the plan for tonight?" Brooke asked. Before anyone could answer she turned to Haley. "No alcohol for you." Haley pouted.  
  
"But I thought you loved Drunk Haley?"  
  
"I love all Haleys," Brooke smirked, poking her on the nose. "But tonight I want to love all of Luke, if you catch my drift. So, we can't have another girly sleepover, as much fun as you were last night."  
  
"A fun girly sleepover?" Tim perked up; ignoring the death glares he was getting from all the females at the table. "Just what exactly went on at this sleepover?" An evil smile came to Brooke's lips, she just couldn't resist the urge to mess with his mind, it was so easy.  
  
"Well, lets just say I couldn't get Haley off of me," Brooke began. She leaned her head on Haley's shoulder for effect. Haley was so used to the teasing and lesbian innuendos that she just ignored her and took a sip of her drink. "And when it was all done, she fell asleep with her head between my legs."Haley spit out her drink and it ended up all over Nathan. Peyton smiled at the sight.  
  
"What?!" Haley, Luke and Tim asked at the same time. Brooke and Peyton burst out laughing since they were the only two that really knew what Brooke was walking about.  
  
"Thanks, Haley," Nathan snapped, trying to get all the Coke off if his face and clothes. "That's just great. Do you have any idea how much this shirt cost?"  
  
"Yeah," Haley answered, surprised at her boyfriend's attitude. "I was there when your mommy bought it for you." The rest of the table had become quiet, but Peyton had to suppress a laugh at the comment. Hopefully, Haley wouldn't just sit there and take it this time; she would get in some shots of her own.  
  
"Oh, that's nice," Nathan spat at her. Everyone was surprised at how Nathan was acting. Sure, they all knew that he could get upset over nothing, but this was weird, they were just having a good time. Karen stepped out of the kitchen.  
  
"What the hell is your problem?"  
  
"Just cause your mother doesn't want you, don't mean you have to be mad at mine because she actually loves me." The few other customers that were in the Café all turned to watch them. Nobody was saying anything. This was the part where Nathan would storm off, but before he had the chance to, Haley jumped up from her seat and ran out of the Café without a word.  
  
"What the hell, Nathan?" Brooke screamed, standing up so fast that her chair fell to the floor. "You're such a dick!" She gave him one last glare before running out of the Café after Haley.  
  
"I'm going after her, too," Peyton told Jake quietly. He nodded and stood up to give her a kiss goodbye. "I'll call you when I know where I'm staying tonight."  
  
"Be careful," he told her. She nodded and walked out of the Café, going in the direction Brooke and Haley had just gone in. Nobody at the table said a word, not wanting to bring the wrath of Nathan down on them.  
  
"Did any of you want coffee?" Karen said, interrupting the silence. Jake nodded his head, figuring he was going to need it tonight since he didn't drink. Karen reached across the table to pour some in Jake cup, but missed and ended up pouring it in Nathan's lap. He screamed and jumped up, swearing like nobody's business. He grabbed the glass of water that was at his place and dumped it on his pant to cool it off. When he calmed down he glared at Karen who was looking at him innocently.  
  
"Oops," she said with a shrug before spinning around and going back into the kitchen. Luke watched her leave with a smirk, never being more proud to say she was his mother.  
  
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That's all for now. I hope you liked it. Please tell me what you think. I just love replies. 


	10. Love and Southern Comfort

Author's Note: Hey, all. Once again, thanks for the replies. I just wanted to warn you that this chapter isn't that great, but I hope you like it anyway. Please tell me what you think.  
  
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"Haley, sweetie, are you here?"  
  
After Peyton left the Café, it took her a few minutes before she was able to catch up with Brooke. She found her standing outside on Haley's front yard. She had asked if Haley was there, but Brooke wasn't sure. She wasn't able to keep up with her, but she assumed that she went there. They spent a few minutes out on the lawn, arguing over whether they should just go in or not. Finally, they decided that nobody else was home; they never were, so they let themselves in.  
  
"She wouldn't be able to hear that," Peyton told her, closing the door behind her. Brooke glared at her before walking further into the house. "She's probably up in her room."  
  
"Sweetie, are you up there?" Brooke called out again, but louder this time. The blonde shook her head at her friend and started taking the steps two at a time up to Haley's room.  
  
"I'm checking her room," Peyton informed her, when she noticed that Brooke was still standing at the bottom of the stairs. "You go check out back. She told me she likes to go out there sometimes."  
  
"Got it," Brooke answered, starting to move past the stairs in the direction of the kitchen. She didn't know what she could expect to find when they did get to Haley, but she knew that her best friend was going to be devastated. Before she could make it to the sliding door that lead to the backyard, she heard Peyton yelling to her.  
  
"She's up here," Peyton called down to her. Brooke felt a wave of relief wash over her when Peyton said that. She was even more grateful when she didn't hear any fear in the blonde's voice.  
  
"I'm coming," Brooke said. When she walked past the table, a piece of paper caught her eye. She stopped walking and picked it up. It was a note to Haley from her parents.  
  
Dear Haley,  
  
You father and I are taking off for the next month or so, we decided that there just wasn't anything for us here. We'll try to get in contact with you sometime during our trip, but I wouldn't count on it. I know that you are old enough to take care of yourself now, and I'm sure that you're happy to have us gone like this. Anyway, if you need anything, just call Kate and she'll take care of it. We'll see you soon,  
  
Mom and Dad  
  
Brooke couldn't believe what she was reading. She shook her head angrily and crumbled up the note, shoving it in her pocket to show to Peyton after.  
  
"Brooke, get your ass up here!" Peyton yelled down to her again. Brooke quickly remembered what she was supposed to be doing and made her way up to Haley's bedroom.  
  
"I'm coming," she said when she was just down the hall. She pushed open the door to Haley's room and her heart broke at the sight that greeted her. Haley was crawled up in a ball, crying her eyes out and trembling. Her eyes traveled up to Peyton, who was standing beside the bed.  
  
"I don't know what to do," Peyton explained, knowing the excuse was weak. She was never good when it came to helping people with their feelings, but that wasn't what her problem was this time. Truth be told, she didn't feel right, comforting Haley and holding her when she had been lying to her.  
  
"Figures," Brooke mumbled, stepping further into the room. She pulled out the note. "I found this on the table in the kitchen" She tossed the crumbled up piece of paper at Peyton to read. "They did it again."  
  
"Her parents?" Brooke nodded before turning to Haley's shaking form on the bed. Peyton walked towards the door, not wanting to interrupt with the talking. She didn't feel right being in the room when Brooke was trying to calm her down.  
  
"Where are you going?" Brooke asked, turning her head when she realized that Peyton was leaving the room.  
  
"You know me," Peyton tried to explain. "I'm not good with this kind of thing. You're better at it than me." Brooke looked at her strangely, knowing that Peyton wasn't telling her the whole truth. "I'm just gonna head down stairs for a bit, call me up when she's asleep."  
  
"You're kidding me, right?" Brooke asked, a little anger that Peyton was acting like this. Peyton was surprised at Brooke's attitude.  
  
"Brooke, come on..."  
  
"Your best friend is frickin' crying her heart out right in front of you and you're just going to walk away?" She looked in Peyton's eyes and she knew that she hated herself for doing this too. "I don't know what's up with you, but this is Haley, okay? The Haley's that been there for both of us whenever we needed it."  
  
"I know that," Peyton snapped. Getting grilled by Brooke was the last thing she needed right now. "I'm no good to her right now. I suck at this sort of thing. Just do your job and call me when she's better."  
  
"Whatever," Brooke hissed at her. She turned her back to her, signaling that she was done with this conversation. Peyton was about to say something, but changed her mind and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her. As soon as the door was closed, Peyton leaned against the wall to take a breath. She closed her eyes as she listened to Haley cry. She slid down the wall to the floor and sat there.  
  
"God," Peyton breathed. She let her forehead fall against her knees. She couldn't stand the sight of Haley crying like that. It broke her heart to see her in so much pain. She also knew that she had to tell Haley now. Well, not now, but soon. She knew that Nathan was just going to keep doing this to her and it would just keep hurting her. It was like Haley was in an abusive relationship without realizing it and Peyton couldn't just stand by and watch it anymore.  
  
Brooke looked down at Haley's shaking form on the bed and for the first time in her life, she had no idea what to do. Deciding that it was no use talking to her in the state she was in, she figured the only thing she could do was be there for her and let her know that she cared.  
  
"Haley?" she said quietly, not wanting to scare the distraught girl. If Haley heard her, she showed no sign of it. Brooke carefully laid a hand on Haley's leg. "Haley, baby, are you okay?" She rolled her eyes at her question. Of course she wasn't okay.  
  
"Brooke?" Haley questioned, opening her eyes slightly only to see a very fuzzy profile of her friend sitting on the bed. Brooke quickly jumped into action, crawling up to the top of the bed to lean against the headboard. Haley shifted in her position so she was facing the other girl and pulled herself up so she could place her head in Brooke's lap.  
  
"I'm here, sweetie," Brooke assured her, running her hands through Haley's hair, trying to calm her down. Haley smiled; glad that at least someone was actually cared about her still.  
  
"Thanks for coming," Haley got out between tears. Another wave of tears came over her and she clung to Brooke's pant leg, hoping that it will somehow stop the pain. Brooke closed her eyes in an attempt to stop her own tears from spilling over.  
  
"Of course I came," Brooke replied wanting to keep her voice light even thought she didn't feel like it. "You know me, I can't resist the gut wrenching pain."  
  
"You and me both," Haley said. "I don't know I let him get to me like that. I don't know why it effects me the way it does." Brooke frowned at her words.  
  
"Aw, come on, Hales," Brooke sighed. "What he said was so low, anybody would have reacted the same way." Haley hiccupped and wiped away her tears. "Of course I would have slapped him first but..." Haley let out a little laugh.  
  
"Yeah," Haley nodded. "I'm starting to regret not doing that before I ran out of there."  
  
"I was going to do it for you, but I didn't want to hurt my hand," Brooke smirked down at her even though Haley wasn't looking up at her. Silence fell between them. "You know he didn't mean it, right?"  
  
"I'm not so sure," Haley commented. She flipped onto her back so she could look up at Brooke's face. She felt weird talking to her upside down since her head was still in her lap, but she continued. "Lately, he's been acting really weird and he's been picking more fights than usual." She bit her bottom lip, trying to decide if she should tell Brooke this. "I think he might be seeing someone else."  
  
"What?"  
  
"I think he's finally tired of waiting for me," Haley finished. As much as it hurt her to even think about what Nathan might be doing behind her back, it was the only explanation that she could come up with.  
  
"You think he's sleeping with someone else?" Brooke asked, surprised at how calm Haley was being over this new information. If she found out Luke was cheating on her, she would have ripped his hair out by now.  
  
"If he isn't yet, he will be soon, I'm sure," Haley mumbled in a bitter tone. "I can see it in his eyes that he's getting fed up. We start making out and it's great, but then I pull back and can see the look in his eyes. He says that it's okay, but I know that it's not."  
  
"That doesn't mean he's sleeping with other girls," Brooke tried to reason with her. "I haven't noticed anything weird with him lately. I'm sure it's nothing big like that..."  
  
"But it's not just me," Haley interrupted, sitting up into a sitting position. Brooke could tell that Haley's calm demeanor was starting to crumble; her voice was starting to waver. "As much as I hate to admit it, Peyton knows Nathan better than I ever could. I've noticed that she's been acting weird around him too."  
  
"Peyton?" Brooke repeated in a confused voice. She suddenly flashed back to her conversation with her last night, about how she didn't want to hurt her friend. Brooke shook her head, not believing that she didn't figure it out sooner. Peyton didn't have any other friends other than the ones in their little group, at least not any that she would care enough about to not want to hurt them. At the store earlier that day, Peyton had said it didn't involve her, so that only left Haley.  
  
"Yeah," Haley nodded, biting her lip again. Brooke could tell that she was going to start to cry again soon. "She tries to be cool about it, but I keep catching her staring at Nathan." A few tears fell down her cheeks. "If Peyton notices that something's wrong than there had to be something going on, right?"  
  
"Yeah," Brooke whispered, pulling Haley back into her arms. "Something's definitely going on." She couldn't believe that this was happening. How could Peyton do that to Haley? Brooke had never thought of Peyton as a backstabber, but if she was right, and Peyton was sneaking around with Nathan behind Haley's back, than backstabber was the nice word for what she was going to be calling Peyton.  
  
OTH  
  
I hope that wasn't too confusing or rushed. I wasn't sure how to add it in, without coming right out and having Brooke say it. I assume you all understand what just happened, but if you don't because of my horrible writing, just ask. Please, tell me what you think of this chapter. 


	11. Miscommunications and Misunderstandings

Author's Note: Thanks for the replies. I'm glad that you haven't all forgiven Nathan yet. I'm planning on making him go through hell and high water to make everything right again. Anyway, please tell me what you think. Thanks.  
  
OTH  
  
"So, what do you think I should do?"  
  
Brooke had to spend another ten minutes trying to calm Haley down again. After Brooke had admitted that something might be up with Nathan, Haley had lost it again. She didn't know what she was going to do, Haley just wouldn't stop crying. The sobs where starting to make her sick to her stomach. The only thing that was keeping her from crying herself was the anger that was in the pit of her stomach over what Peyton was doing to Haley.  
  
"If I was you," Brooke began, brushing some of the tears off Haley's face. "I wouldn't confront him until you have some kind of proof. Cause if you just go up to him and start accusing him of stuff, he's just going to lose it."  
  
"Yeah, I guess you're right," Haley answered. Before Brooke could respond there was a sudden bang at the front door.  
  
"Haley!" they heard him scream while he banged on the door. "Haley, Haley, please open up!" At the sound of his voice, Haley crawled further into Brooke's lap. She started to cry again and shook her head.  
  
"I don't wanna see him," Haley cried. She looked up at Brooke with pleading eyes and it broke Brooke's heart all over again. "Please, make him go away."  
  
"You got it, sweetie," Brooke assured her, wanting her to know that she wasn't going to let Nathan hurt her anymore. "I'm gonna yell to Peyton, okay?"  
  
"Okay," Haley whispered, burying her head into Brooke's leg so she couldn't hear her as well.  
  
"Peyton, get the door, will ya!" Brooke screamed, not knowing that Peyton was just sitting outside the door.   
  
"Ah, yeah," Peyton mumbled, pulling herself off the floor and wiping her eyes, not wanting Nathan to see the tears on her face. She had heard everything that they said and it killed her to hear Haley talk like that. "I'll go get it."  
  
"Tell him that Haley doesn't want to see him," Brooke added, trying to keep her new hatred for the girl out of her voice. She didn't want Haley to pick up on because she wasn't going to tell Haley until she had the chance to bitch out Peyton.  
  
"Okay," Peyton mumbled, wandering down the hall. She had a major headache and the last thing she needed right now, was to hear Nathan banging incessantly on the door.  
  
"Haley, please open the door!" Nathan yelled again. He knew that he was probably waking up all the neighbors, but he didn't care one bit. All he wanted was to talk to Haley before Peyton told her everything.  
  
"Hold on!" Peyton screamed, trying to be heard over the loud banging. When Nathan heard her voice, he stopped banging. After a moment the door wiped open to reveal a very upset and pissed off Peyton.  
  
"Hey."  
  
"Do not 'hey' me," she snapped, holding the door only half way open. She didn't want him to come in and she knew that he was going to try. "What are you doing here?"  
  
"I came to talk to Haley," he answered. Peyton was surprised by the desperation she could hear in his voice. She took a good look at his face and noticed that he looked scared to death.  
  
"She doesn't want to talk to you," Peyton told him. She stared at him for a moment longer before moving to close the door. Before she could get it closed all that way, Nathan shoved a foot in the way.  
  
"I need to talk to her," he repeated, trying to plead with the blonde girl. He didn't blame her for acting this way; she had every right to hate him. Hell, he hated himself right now. "Please, it's really important."  
  
"No, Nathan," Peyton said without giving it a second thought. "She doesn't want to talk to you." She watched his face fall. "Can you really blame her? After what you said to her back there. What is your problem?"  
  
"I know what I said was wrong," he explained, jumping at the chance to make things right with at least her. If he couldn't explain to Haley, Peyton was the next best thing.  
  
"You think?" Peyton snapped. She shook her head and tried to close the door, but Nathan wouldn't move out of the way. "Nathan, move."  
  
"No," he stated. "Not until you listen to me."  
  
"I am not interested in anything you have to say," Peyton replied. "Cause it seems that every time you open your mouth lately, it's to hurt Haley and I'm done standing around and watching you hurt my best friend."  
  
"I don't want to hurt her anymore," Nathan agreed. He had to think of something and fast because patience was not one of Peyton's strongest virtues. Peyton looked at him, clearly not impressed.  
  
"And I'm supposed to what?" Peyton asked. "Jump up and down and tell you what an amazing guy you are because you're going to stop verbally abusing your girlfriend?"  
  
"That's not what I'm..."  
  
"Cause you know what," Peyton cut him off. "I'm thinking it's too little, too late time." Nathan's stomach topped to his feet. She said the words that he was most dreading.  
  
"No, I just have to..."  
  
"I really think you broke her this time," Peyton said, her voice getting quieter as she thought about the vision of Haley laying on her bed, crying. "You should see her, Nate. I mean really, you've never seen her like this. You've never seen what you do to her."  
  
"I know," he whispered, afraid his voice would crack if he spoke any louder. "I've been a horrible person to her. It was like it was when we were together."  
  
"It's so much worse than that," Peyton told him. "With us, we were never in love so when you said those kinds of things to me, they didn't really pack the same kind of punch."  
  
"Oh," was all Nathan could say. He bowed his head, not being able to look her in the eyes. Peyton had the kind of eyes that could tell you everything she was feeling. Even an idiot could read them, plus Tim. And right now, she was pissed.  
  
"You always hurt the one you love," Peyton sighed. She had always hated that saying because it hit too close to home for her. "But what you're doing to Haley, it brings new meaning to the phrase."  
  
"I know." Nathan took a deep breath and raised his head. He was surprised at the amount of anger in Peyton's eyes; it wasn't as much as he thought there would be. It was being overshadowed by the guilt. "And I want to stop doing that."  
  
"It's really about time."  
  
"She speaks the truth," Nathan said, trying to lighten the mood. Peyton's face didn't change. "I want to stop hurting her."  
  
"Good."  
  
"But I need your help." Peyton eyes widened. She couldn't believe that he had the balls to ask her that. He saw that she was about to lunge at him so he quickly continued. "Please, you're the only one."  
  
"Are you actually saying these words?"  
  
"Look," Nathan began, taking a step forward. "I know that you don't want to tell Haley about what I've been doing behind her back. You don't want to hurt her anymore than I do."  
  
"Is there a point that you're going to be getting to?"  
  
"Don't tell her," he begged. He knew that he was asking for a lot more than he deserved, but he had to ask. It was all he could do. He knew that if Peyton did tell Haley, it was his fault. He was the big slut.  
  
"What?"   
  
"Please, I'm begging you here," Nathan pleaded. Peyton looked at his face, trying to tell what his intension where. "Don't tell Haley about those other girls." Peyton quickly looked behind her, making sure that Brooke and Haley were still upstairs.  
  
"I'm not going to talk about this right now," she told him, quickly starting to close the door. Once again he pushed his way through. "Nathan, she doesn't want to see you."  
  
"Just don't tell her tonight," he said, backing out of the doorway. He didn't want Peyton to think that he was going to break into the house.   
  
"Fine," she said, willing to say anything to get him lost. The last thing she needed right now was for Brooke or Haley to come down the stairs and overhear their conversation.  
  
"So, you wouldn't tell her tonight?" he asked hopefully.  
  
"No, I am," she hissed, sarcastically. "Yeah, after she's done crying herself into exhaustion because her bitch of a mother doesn't want her, I'm going to tell her that the man she loves and trust more than anyone is a cheating bastard. How do you think that will go down?"  
  
"I'm sorry..."  
  
"Unlike you, I actually have a heart," she told him. "And unlike you, I love that girl up there."  
  
"I love her too...."  
  
"But I show it," she stated. Deciding that she was done with this conversation, she moved away from the door.  
  
"Wait," he called out. Just then, Brooke came to the top of the stairs to see what was going on. Neither of them noticed or heard her.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Come to my apartment tomorrow morning?" he asked her. Peyton's eyes glazed over in confusion. That was the last thing she expected him to say. "I want to explain everything to you. Hopefully, I can convince you to not tell Haley." Peyton looked at him uneasy for a minute before letting out a breath.  
  
"What time?" She knew she should be doing this; there was this little voice at the back of her head telling her that she shouldn't listen to him, that she needed to tell Haley everything. But if there was a way that they could get through this without hurting Haley, that she was all for it.  
  
"Whenever you can," he told her. He started to turn around, but stopped. "You wont tell her?"  
  
"It's our little secret," Peyton sighed. Nathan smiled at her, more grateful than he had ever been in his entire life. He leaned forward without even thinking and kissed her on the cheek.  
  
"Thanks, Pey." Without waiting for a response, he quickly ran off into the night, no doubt back to his place. Peyton let out the breath she didn't know she had been holding and closed the door. She closed her eyes and leaned her forehead against the cold wood.  
  
"Isn't that nice," came a voice from behind her. She jumped up and turned around to find Brooke sitting at the top of the stairs. Her stomach suddenly felt like lead.  
  
"Brooke," she squeaked out. "How long have you been sitting there?"  
  
"Long enough to hear you make your next date with Nathan," Brooke answered coldly, glaring daggers at the blonde. "How could you, Peyton? You know what he means to Haley."  
  
"Brooke, what are you talking about?"  
  
"I don't know who you're trying to fool, but it's not going to be me." Brooke grabbed into the railing and stood up. "I really thought you were better than that."  
  
"Brooke." Peyton took a step forward, but stopped when she saw the look in Brooke's eyes.  
  
"Stay away from Haley," Brooke warned her. "I think you've already done enough." Without another word, Brooke turned on her heels and went back to join Haley. Peyton stood stalk still, trying to process what Brooke had just said to her. She ran a hand through her hair, realizing that Brooke was accusing her of sleeping with Nathan. God, when did her life get so messed up?  
  
OTH  
  
That's all for now. I know it's nothing great, but that's what I've got for you right now. Please tell me what you think. Replies make me move faster. Thanks for reading.


	12. A Deal With the Devil

Author's Note: Thank you all so much for the great replies. I can't get enough of them. I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as the rest of them. Please reply if you like it. Thanks.  
  
OTH  
  
"I'm glad that you came."  
  
Peyton had ended up sleeping over at Haley's as well. Even though she knew that Brooke didn't want anything to do with her, she wanted – no needed, to be there for Haley. She stayed on the couch and set the alarm clock on her watch to wake her up early. She did not want to have another run in with Brooke, at least not until she cleared things up with Nathan. She tossed and turned all night, trying to decide if she was doing the right thing, going to see Nathan. All in all, she ended up getting a total of four hours sleep and now she was about to have an emotionally draining conversation. Today was going to be a long one.  
  
"You should be," Peyton answered shortly, pushing her way passed him and into the apartment. She had no intention of making small talk with him, she just cam to hear what he had to say and then get out. "I almost didn't come."  
  
"Well, I'm glad that you did," he said again, shutting the door and joining her in the living room.  
  
"You said that already," she pointed out, moving to stand beside the couch. Nathan watched her nervously, not knowing how to start.  
  
"Do you want anything?"  
  
"I don't plan on staying long." She moved away from the couch and grabbed a magazine off the table and began flipping through it.   
  
"Okay," he replied, trying to figure out where she stood on the whole thing. For some reason he had expected her to be accepting or something, but by the way she was acting, that wasn't even an option for her.  
  
"This place is a mess," Peyton sighed, closing the magazine and tossing it back on the table. She looked around, trying to find something to occupy her attention. She couldn't just stand there and look at him, it made her blood boil, and she didn't think that Haley would like it very much if she killed her boyfriend. No matter how much of a jackass he was.   
  
"Thanks," he said sarcastically. He picked up a dirty shirt that was tossed over the back of the couch and threw it over in the pile of other dirty clothes. "I try to make it as homey as possible."  
  
"Okay," Peyton stated, spinning around to look at him. HE stopped in his tracks and shifted uncomfortably under her gaze. "So, obviously this small talk thing isn't really working for us."  
  
"I don't know," he disagreed, finishing his walk to the couch and sitting down on it. "I thought we were doing okay." He was trying to lighten the mood, make the place seem less tension filled and she was having none of it.  
  
"Look, Nathan," she began, walking over to stand in front of him, but making sure that the coffee table was in between them. He looked up at her, fear in his eyes.  
  
"I know what you're going to say," he interrupted her. He had been up all night as well, thinking over all the horrible things that he had done over throughout his relationship with Haley. He couldn't understand how he could do all those things to the woman he loved.  
  
"Then sit back and relax," Peyton ordered him. She had all these feeling of hatred and rage directed towards him and she needed to get them out before she exploded. There was no way she was going to leave this apartment without giving him hell for the way he had been treating Haley. "Cause I have a lot of things to say."  
  
"Are you going to be sitting down during any of this?" he asked, already feeling sick from watching her pace back and forth.  
  
"No," she shot at him. "I pace when I'm angry."  
  
"I remember," he whispered, smiling to himself. She glanced over at him and caught him smiling at her. Her eyes widened and she pointed a finger at him.  
  
"Don't you even try that crap on me," she warned him. She knew all the little tricks he could play to get under girl's skins and luckily she was so used to them after all their years together that she was immune to them.  
  
"Sorry." He was so used to doing it that eh didn't even realize when he was doing it. He slumped down further into his seat and bowed his head, getting ready for the lecture he was going to get from Peyton.   
  
"Now, I have a lot to say to you," she began. She stopped pacing and looked at him. "And most of it will be yelling, so if you have to go to the bathroom, I'd suggest you do it now because I am not stopping in the middle for you."  
  
"I think I'm good."  
  
"What the hell is wrong with you?" she asked. He flinched at the volume in her voice. Apparently she was just going to jump in with both feet. Assuming that it was a rhetorical question, he stayed silent. "That is really what's been bugging me since I found out about all this crap. You say that it's because you don't want to lose Haley, and I understand that, I don't want to lose her either, but what were you thinking when you started sleeping with those girls?"  
  
"I didn't want to pressure her into doing anything that she wasn't ready..."  
  
"Oh, come off it, Nate," she cut him off. He knew it was bad when he heard her call him that. Most people tended to call him that a lot, but Peyton only called him that when she was pissed off at him for something. "Don't you dare give me that 'I did it for her' s hit. Haley is an amazing person, probably the best one I know, and if you really loved her the way you claim you do, than you would wait forever for her."  
  
"I wanted to," he said quietly. "I was going to..."  
  
"Than why?"  
  
"Because I could," he answered finally. He knew the answer all along; he just didn't wan to admit it to himself. At least if he had a reason, even a stupid one, then he would feel better about it.  
  
"Yeah," Peyton sighed, knowing that was the answer as well. "So, how much longer do you plan on using her like this? Because sooner or later, she will find out, whether I tell her or not. And when she does, she is going to be devastated."  
  
"I'm through with it."  
  
"Through with screwing around or through with Haley?"  
  
"The first one," he answered quickly. He looked up at her and could tell that she was waiting for him to explain himself. He sighed and looked at his lap. "After I left the Café and Lacy refused to come back here with me..."  
  
"I'm not liking where this is going."  
  
"It's not like that," he assured her. He realized that it sounded like he was with another girl after her hurt Haley. She motioned for him to continue. "When I got back here, my dad was waiting for me."  
  
"Gotta say," Peyton began. "Didn't think I'd see the day when Dan Scott became the voice of reason."  
  
"We started talking about stuff, his hear attack..." Peyton watched him play with a thread on his shirt, knowing that he was having a lot of trouble with this. Nathan Scott never avoided eye contact with anyone. "...How no one came to visit him in the hospital."  
  
"Surprise, surprise."  
  
"Anyway, he said something that really brought everything into perspective."  
  
"Let me guess," Peyton began. God, she should have known where this was going as soon as he mentioned his father. "He said that you were exactly like him?" Nathan's head shoot up to look at her in shock. "It's no secret. That's why I broke up with you in the first place. I didn't want to end up like Karen."  
  
This whole conversation was getting them nowhere. Nathan had asked her over for one reason and one reason only, to get her to keep her mouth shut. He wasn't sure if he was going to be able to convince her, but he needed to try. He refused to lose Haley to some stupid mistake he made. She was too important to him.   
  
"Peyton, look," he started. Peyton immediately stopped her movements, knowing what was coming. "I know that I don't deserve any favors, especially from you, but I'm asking anyway. Please, don't tell Haley about any of this."  
  
"She's my best friend, Nathan." Internally she was rolling her eyes at herself. She wasn't being much of a best friend right now. "I can't just lie to her face about this. It's too big."  
  
"Please, Pey," he begged. "It's all over. I'm never going to do it again, I promise. I'm going to wait for her, until she's ready. I swear to God, I wouldn't betray her again."  
  
"How do I know that?"  
  
"You don't," he answered in a defeated voice. "There is no way I can prove it to you, you can only trust me."  
  
"Trust you? This whole situation is really not something to be using as a reason to trust you." Nathan knew that he wasn't going to win her over that way. He was just going to have to sink low and use the thing he knew would convince her.  
  
"I need her and she needs me," he stated. Peyton's eyes locked on his for a moment before he adverted his eyes. "You said it yourself that she would be devastated if she found out. She would never forgive me. I would lose her forever."  
  
"I can't believe your using this against me."  
  
"I don't want to, but it's my last chance." He stood up. "She's happy, okay? I make her happy and if you tell her then she'll be miserable. Neither of us wants to see that." He could tell that she was starting to wear down. "I'm never going to do it again, she never has to know." He walked over to her. "She won't get hurt."  
  
"Okay," Peyton whispered. The voice inside her head was screaming at her for being so stupid. Everything in her was telling her she needed to tell Haley everything, but her mouth wouldn't listen. She closed her eyes and ran a hand through her hair. "God, I'm the worst best friend ever."  
  
"Thank you, Peyton."  
  
"I didn't do it for you," she snapped. "The only reason I'm agreeing to this, is so Haley doesn't get hurt." She took a step forward. "I swear to God, Nathan, if I even suspect that you are cheating on her again, I'm telling her everything."  
  
"You got it," he nodded. He let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding and finally let a smile break through. He started to move to the kitchen to get something to eat, since he would be able to keep it down now.   
  
"I'm telling Brooke," Peyton stated out of nowhere. Nathan stopped in his tracks and turned to look at her, panic all over his face.  
  
"What?"  
  
"She thinks that I'm sleeping with you," she explained. "And trust me, she'll make both our lives a living hell. I have no problem with her doing it to you, but I didn't do anything." She started to walked to the door.  
  
"But..." She didn't stop.  
  
"I'm telling her." Without another word, she walked out of the apartment and towards Haley's house.  
  
OTH  
  
Peyton walked into the house to find it exactly the way she left it. She glanced at her watch and figured that Brooke would be up by now. Haley generally slept in anytime she could since she was always working at the Café, so she doubted that she would be up yet. She shut the door and ventured into the kitchen. Just as she suspected, Brooke was sitting at the kitchen table eating breakfast.  
  
"Hey."  
  
"Back already?" Brooke asked, coldly. "I didn't think Nathan could be that fast." She pushed her chair back and stood up, moving over to the sink to wash her dishes.  
  
"It's not like that." Brooke wiped around, glaring at her. She took a few steps closer and crossed her arms.  
  
"So what is it like?" she asked. "Explain it to me. Cause I'm just dying to know."  
  
"Pull up a seat." Peyton turned around and sat down in the chair across from where Brooke had just been sitting. Brooke eyed her for a moment before making her way back to where she had been moments ago. She sat down and looked at Peyton expectantly. Peyton took a deep breath, not knowing where to start.  
  
OTH  
  
That's all for now. I hope you all like it. Please tell me what you think. Thanks for reading.


	13. Good Morning Sunshine

Author's Note: Hey, everybody. I'm glad that you're all still liking this story, so please keep replying. Thanks and enjoy.  
  
OTH

"You have got to be kidding me."  
  
After about five minutes of complete silence between Peyton and Brooke, Peyton had finally started to explain. She knew that Brooke was pissed at her and that there was a big chance that she wouldn't believe a word she said, but she had to try. Another thing she knew was a possibility was that Brooke would tell Haley everything. A part of Peyton wanted Brooke to tell her, that way she wouldn't have to be the one to do it. The thought of seeing all that pain in Haley's eyes over something that she said, it would kill her.  
  
"Would I lie about something this serious?" Peyton questioned. She figured that Brooke would have this initial reaction, but she knew her well enough to know that she would easily be convinced.  
  
"I guess not," Brooke mumbled. She sat there and tried to process all the new information that she had just been told. Given, she had already thought that Nathan was cheating on Haley, but there was still a little part of her that refused to believe it.  
  
"I caught him coming back into the club the other night," Peyton continued to explain. Should she tell Brooke that he was with Lacy at the time? She had promised Lacy that she wouldn't tell Haley about her and Nathan, but she didn't think that it would do her any good to lie to Brooke about it.  
  
"That's what you were talking about that night," Brooke replied. Peyton nodded, looking down at the table. "And that's why you insisted that I invite Hales over for a sleepover?"  
  
"Yeah," Peyton answered. "I was so pissed off at him, I really needed to bitch at him. I figured that Haley might suspect something if I followed them home and yelled at him."  
  
"Maybe," Brooke mumbled, looking and sounding distant. Peyton caught the weirdness in her voice and straightened up in her seat a little bit.  
  
"What's up?"  
  
"It's just something Haley and me where talking about last night," Brooke finally answered, after deciding she should shared the information. She saw the questioning look in the blonde's eyes and continued. "She was saying that Nate had been acting weird lately."  
  
"Are you saying that she knows?" Peyton questioned, wide eyed. There was no way that Haley could know what was going on with Nathan. If she knew there would be waterworks galore.  
  
"She's starting to suspect something," Brooke replied. "And you might want to be a little more slick with your death glares at Nathan, she mentioned that she noticed you were looking at him weirdly too."  
  
"And that's where you got me and Nathan from?" Peyton question. That did make sense and Brooke was always one to jump to conclusions. Brooke nodded her head. A feeling of dread swept over Peyton. "You didn't say anything to her about it, did you?"  
  
"No, no," Brooke reassured her. "I would never scare her like that unless I was one hundred percent positive there was something going on." Peyton nodded, letting out a breath. Brooke slowly stood up from her chair and walked over to the fridge.  
  
"So your plan was to totally bitch me out before you told Haley?" Peyton asked, joking around. She was surprised at how much lighter she felt now that she had told Brooke what was going on.  
  
"Pretty much," Brooke called out, her head stuck in the fridge looking for something to eat. "God, doesn't anybody in this house shop?"  
  
"Haley's practically the only person that lives here still," Peyton pointed out. Brooke nodded sadly, remembering the note that she had found last night. As if reading her mind, Peyton reached into her jeans pocket and pulled out the piece of paper that Brooke had given her last night.  
  
"Did you read that?" Brooke asked, pointing to the paper. Peyton nodded as Brooke pulled herself up to sit on the kitchen counter. "Doesn't it make you sick?"  
  
"I would say yes," Peyton began, copying Brooke's position on the counter. "But after the last few days with Nathan, nothing surprises me anymore." Peyton leaned back and grabbed the bowl of grapes.  
  
"Poor Hales," Brooke said, catching the grape that Peyton threw her way. "Her parents don't want her and her boyfriends a cheating jackass. My life looks good compared to her's."  
  
"Tell me about it," Peyton nodded, popping another piece of fruit into her mouth.  
  
"So, how do we tell her about Nathan?"  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"We are going to tell her, right?" Brooke asked, confused at the expression on her friend's face. Peyton adverted her eyes, not being able to look at her Brooke when she told her about the promise she made Nathan. "Peyton?"  
  
"That's kind of why I went over to his place this morning," she tried to explain. She couldn't take Brooke's stares anymore and slid of the counter to pace. "He told me that he's had some kind of awakening or whatever." Peyton stopped moving and turned back to Brooke. "He promised that he was done, that he was never going to cheat on her again..."  
  
"And you believed him?"  
  
"Yeah, I think," Peyton answered, unsurely. "Maybe." Brooke stared at her, knowing that Peyton was too stressed right now to hold her ground. "Honestly, I have no idea if he was telling the truth or not."  
  
"You're telling me that you are just going to look Haley in the eyes and not tell her about all of this?" Brooke questioned. Peyton's eyes traveled back down to the tiled floor.  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Do you want to know what I think?" Brooke asked, jumping off the counter to stand in front of Peyton. The blonde looked up and nodded mutely. "I think that you're making a huge mistake. I think that Haley is going to find out sooner or later and you not telling her is just going to make matters worse."  
  
"Maybe she wouldn't find out," Peyton hoped. Brooke started to say something, but Peyton cut her off. "No, there's a chance that this could all work out okay. There's a chance that Nathan will never hurt her again and maybe they'll get married and have kids and..."  
  
"Peyton," Brooke said, trying to get her to calm down. "Please, tell me that you don't really believe that? You know just as well as I do that you can't bury stuff, it'll just come right back up and bite you in the ass."  
  
"I know," Peyton agreed defected. She shook Brooke off and walked around to the other side of the counter. "I know that this is all going to come out, there's no way that Nathan is smooth enough to pull it off."  
  
"Then why are you trying to hide this?"  
  
"I don't want to see her cry," Peyton finally answered. "God, before last night, I hadn't decided whether I was going to tell her or not, but as soon as I saw her up in her room, I made up my mind. If we tell her, if I tell her, it's going to be like a thousand times worse than that."  
  
"Yeah, it will."  
  
"And I can't stand the thought of that," Peyton finished. She let out a frustrated breath and flopped down in the chair she was in before. "It's just... she's Haley, you know? She's like the nicest person in the world, she doesn't deserve this, any of it."  
  
"Nobody does," Brooke told her, going to sit in her own chair. "Except for maybe Nathan." Peyton smiled sadly and nodded.  
  
"Good point."  
  
"But I know what you're talking about," Brooke assured her. "I hate seeing her in pain just as much as you do. Like last night when she wouldn't stop crying, it was killing me."  
  
"Really." Peyton never would have guessed, Brooke just sort of sprung into action with Haley; she just figured she was unfazed by the whole thing. "It didn't seem like it."  
  
"Well, I was playing it cool," she explained. She looked down at the table for a minute before looking back up to look at Peyton. "I don't know if you forgot this little detail, but Nathan was the one that made her cry. He's the jackass that said that crap about her mother."  
  
"I know..."  
  
"He's just going to end up hurting her anyway," Brooke told her. "I'm telling you this now, you're making the wrong decision and I think you know that... but I won't tell Haley."  
  
"You won't?" Peyton asked, more than a little surprised that Brooke had agreed to keep this a secret. Brooke nodded.  
  
"It's you're information to tell," she explained. Peyton's face fell. "You were the one to find out, you should be the one to tell her, and until you're ready to do that, my lips are sealed."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Really." Peyton got up and hugged the brunette tightly. "Don't think that I'm done talking to you about this, though. I promise that I will continue to hound you until you agree to tell her."  
  
"I would expect nothing less from you," Peyton joked. Brooke laughed and they separated. "Look, she's my best friend and I know she's yours too, it's our job to keep her safe. And if that means lying to her...then that's what I'm going to do."  
  
"Well, that's your prerogative," Brooke replied. Peyton smiled, clearly impressed with her vocabulary. Brooke rolled her eyes and smiled. "I've been waiting to use prerogative in a sentence for like a week now." Peyton laughed and moved back to her seat.  
  
"Hey, guys," Haley greeted them, just making her way into the kitchen. Peyton smiled tightly in her direction, not trusting herself enough to say something.  
  
"Hey, babe," Brooke smiled at her. Peyton was impressed at how well Brooke was able to normal around Haley. It just made her wonder what things Brooke was keeping from her.  
  
"I didn't hear you leave last night," Haley commented, grabbing a glass of orange juice and a muffin before joining them at the table.  
  
"That's cause I didn't leave," Brooke answered, reaching over and snatching a bit of her muffin. "I was trapped underneath you, once again I might add, so I just figured I'd sleep with you." Peyton figured she better say something before Haley questioned her silence.  
  
"You seem to be doing that a lot," she added, making sure not to look directly at Haley when she spoke. "Laying on Brooke."  
  
"What can I say," Haley began, bringing her glass to her lips. She took a sip and put it back. "Brookie's just irresistible." She turned to Brooke to give her a sexy smile, but stopped when she saw her. "Or at least she will be once she pulls a comb through her hair."  
  
"Thanks, Hales," Brooke smiles, running a hand over her hair. Haley seemed to have either forgotten about the drama that was last night or trying to. Peyton watched as they started to playfully tease each other and was trying to figure out how Brooke could be so comfortable around her. She herself was going insane. She had no idea how she was supposed to keep this thing a secret when she couldn't even look Haley in the eyes. This was going to be interesting.  
  
OTH  
  
That's all for now. I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to update last night, but I was just too tired. I know that nothing too exciting happened in this chapter and you are all pissed off that Brooke isn't going to run off and tell Haley, but I promise that there is a reason for that. There are certain things that I have planned for this story and for them to happen, Haley can know about Nathan's activities. Anyway, please reply and tell me what you think. Thanks.


	14. All Is As it Should Be

Author's Note: Hey all. I'm sorry that it's been so long since I've updated this fic. You see, I have up to like chapter 28 posted on a different site and I keep forgetting that I have it posted here to. Anyway, please tell me what you think. Enjoy.

OTH

"I can not believe I let you drag me here."  
  
It had been a week since Nathan's outburst at the Café about Haley's mother and she had managed to stay away from him the whole time. Brooke, Peyton and Lacy had been taking Haley shopping almost everyday and spending all of Mr. Davis' money on clothes. While the girls were trying to lift Haley's spirits, the boys were busy trying to do the same thing for Nathan. He tried to talk to Haley everyday, but she didn't want to talk to him yet. The only problem was, today she was going to be forced to see him, spend the entire afternoon together actually. It was Karen's birthday today, and she and Luke had been planning this for about a month, and now she was stuck.  
  
"You did plan the party," Brooke pointed out, pulling the car up to the curb of the Café. Haley rolled her eyes and unbuckled her seatbelt. "She is also practically your mother and it's her birthday, she would be very upset if you weren't there."  
  
"Why did I know you were going to guilt me into this?" Brooke flashed her a smile and they both got out. Brooke was decked out in her new pair of low-rise jeans complete with her favorite pink tank top. Haley was dressed pretty similar, having borrowed Brooke's clothes, the only difference being that her shirt was blue.  
  
"Now come on," Brooke began, linking her arm through Haley's as they walked towards the entrance. "It's going to be fun."  
  
"Nathan will be there," Haley complained, pushing the door open and smiling when she saw that he wasn't there yet. "Trust me, it will not be fun."  
  
"You don't have to talk to him," Brooke suggested, walking them over to where Luke was standing with Keith. "Hey, Broody." She unattached herself from Haley and reached up to kiss her boyfriend.  
  
"Hey, Cheery," he smiled back. He pulled back from the kiss and smiled at Haley, not having seen her in a almost a week. "Hey, Hales. Long time no see."  
  
"Hey, Luke," she replied. "Sorry, I've been kind of on a Scott hiatus lately." Luke nodded, understanding what she was talking about. Personally he didn't blame her for still being pissed at Nathan, what he said was completely uncalled for, but he wasn't going to tell his brother that.  
  
"That's cool." He reached passed Brooke and brought Haley into a hug. "He's really sorry," he whispered in her ear. Haley's face flashed a look of pain for a moment before going back to normal. "Just give him a chance, okay?"  
  
"I'll think about it," she answered back. He nodded and pulled away. Brooke looked at the two in confusion before deciding just to leave it alone. She smiled at them and turned to Keith.  
  
"What's up, Uncle Keith?" she asked him in a cheery voice. Keith laughed at the tone in her voice and shook his head. He really did like her, but sometimes she was a little much to take.  
  
"I'm good, Brooke, and you?"  
  
"Can't complain." Brooke smiled and gave him a thumbs up. He laughed at the goofy expression on her face.  
  
"I'll leave you kids to talk." He slapped Luke on the back and kissed Haley on the cheek before he left them alone.  
  
"Bye," Haley called out. He waved at her as he started talking with a few other guests. She turned back to the lovebirds. "So, when's your mom getting here?"  
  
"She should be here in about a half an hour, I think."  
  
"Good," Haley nodded, trying to get her nerves in check. She was really starting to get nerves about seeing Nathan. They had never gone this long without seeing each other before. "And, uh, what about everyone else?"  
  
"Peyton just called and said that her and Jake will be her any minute now, I think they're bringing Jenny," he answered. It seemed as if he didn't get the hidden meaning behind her questions. She shouldn't have been surprised though; he was a guy after all, and a Scott to top it off.  
  
"That's great," she replied, her mind elsewhere. Brooke noticed it right away and jabbed Luke in the ribs. He winced and looked over at her. She mouthed his brother's name and a light came on.  
  
"Oh," he exclaimed. "Yeah, and, um, Tim's bringing Lacy by in a little bit," he added, slowly. "And Deb and Nate should be here soon too."  
  
"Cool," she mumbled. The bell on top of the door dinged and she immediately looked over to see if it was him, but it was just Peyton and Jake, with Jenny. She sent a smile their way. "I'm gonna grab a drink. You guys want?"  
  
"No, I'm good," Brooke answered. Luke shook his head and she left them alone.  
  
"Hey, guys," Luke greeted them as they reached them. He hit fists with Jake and hugged Peyton. "Thanks for coming, my mom will be glad to see you."  
  
"No problem," Peyton replied, handing him they present they brought. Luke took it and placed it on the counter behind him. Peyton looked over at where Haley was standing. "What's up with her?" Brooke over to where she was looking.  
  
"Oh, she's just nervous about seeing Nathan," Brooke answered. Peyton nodded and continued to watch her friend. Brooke laughed when Haley took a huge gulp of her punch. "I think she decided that it'll be easier to talk to him if she's drink."  
  
"But the punch isn't alcoholic," Luke commented. Brooke gasped dramatically and stared at him. She pointed a finger at him and shook her head.  
  
"Have I taught you nothing?" she asked, very disappointed. "I can't believe you didn't spike the punch yet." She smiled victoriously and pulled out a flask. Jake and Luke looked at her in surprise, but Peyton was used to it. "I always come prepared. I'll be back."  
  
"I had nothing to do with this," he called after her. She shook her head and joined Haley at the refreshment table.  
  
"How you holding up, babe?" she asked. Haley shrugged her shoulders and went to take a sip. "Here." She poured some of her secret mixture into Haley's cup. Haley nodded her head in thanks and took another big sip.  
  
"Much better now," she commented. "Thanks."  
  
"Always here to help." She poured the rest into the large punch bowl and mixed it around with the ladle.  
  
"I'll bet." Before Haley could say anymore, the door chimed again and she didn't even need to look up to see who it was. She knew it was him. It was like as soon as he stepped into the room, all the air was sucked out of it and she couldn't breath. But in a good way, in the best.  
  
"I'm just gonna..." Brooke said. She slapped Haley's butt and went over to join the group over at the counter. Haley didn't even hear a word she said, her eyes were locked on Nathan's approaching form.  
  
"Hey," he greeted. Haley was amazed at how good he always seemed to look. It was like he got hotter everyday. He wasn't wearing anything special, a blue Jordan tracksuit and white sneakers, but she had never seen him look better.  
  
"Hey," she choked out. She blushed and looked down at her cup. She swirled the drink around a little and took a tiny sip. Her stomach was filled with butterflies and she liked it. She had never felt this way better.  
  
"Can I talk to you?" he asked. Her eyes shot up and meet his piercing blue ones. She gulped at the sensation that shot through her and nodded meekly.  
  
"Yeah, sure." Nathan gave her that smile that was only reserved for her and lead her to the kitchen so they could talk alone. Haley's nerves shot up when he laid his hand on the small of her back, but she didn't break her stride and pushed the door to the kitchen open.  
  
"You look great," he commented, once they were alone. He gave her a once over and his smile widened. She was always beautiful, but she looked even more so today, but he didn't know why.  
  
"Thanks," she replied, trying to look at anything, but Nathan. She motioned to her outfit. "It's Brooke's. She insisted that she get to dress me today." He let out a little laugh, knowing that Haley hated it when Brooke made her wear her clothes. "You look good, too."  
  
"My mommy bought it for me," he joked, hoping to break the tension between them. It seemed to work, as Haley started laughing, remembering her commented that night.  
  
"I'm sorry about that," Haley told him, her laughter starting to calm down. "I shouldn't have said it."  
  
"No, I was bad guy," he assured her. He looked into her eyes as if asking permission and took a step forward. "Haley, what I said, I didn't mean it. I was being a complete dick that night."  
  
"You were just in a bad mood," she reasoned with him. Deep down, what he had said still hurt her, but she just wanted to get things back to normal. Their was a part of her that knew she would never forget the things he had said, mostly because she thought them herself, but she could only hope they would go away.  
  
"It doesn't matter," he argued. He reached out and took a hold of her hand. "I never should have said it no matter what. I'm your boyfriend and you should be able to trust me." He looked at her with pleading eyes, asking her for her forgiveness. But he was asking it for more than the harsh things he said to her, he was asking it for all the horrible things he had done behind her back.  
  
"I do trust you," she told him, not a trace of doubt in her mind. The feelings that she had before, the thoughts that he might be cheating on her, they all left as soon as she looked in his eyes. "With everything."  
  
"Sometimes I think you shouldn't," he whispered. He couldn't look her in the eyes anymore, so his gaze traveled behind her. "But I'm going to try my best to be the kind of guy that you deserve."  
  
"Maybe Jake can tutor you," she teased. Nathan laughed and nodded, thinking that it wasn't that bad of an idea. "Just don't go falling for him too. I know you tend to have a thing for your tutors." Nathan smiled and pulled Haley towards him.  
  
"Only the hot ones named Haley." He leaned down and kissed her. Both marveled at the feeling of each other's lips, having forgotten how amazing it felt when they were together. When they pulled apart, both had huge gins on their faces.  
  
"I forgot how good that felt."  
  
"Me too." Haley felt all the butterflies that had been in her stomach fly away as she snuggled into Nathan's arms. "I love you," he whispered, kissing her hair.  
  
"I love you too." She gave him another quick kiss before pulling out of his arms and straightening her shirt. "I don't think Brooke would like it if you groped me when I was wearing her clothes, so we better stop."  
  
"Okay," he answered simply. Haley surprised by his lack of argument, usually he pouted and begged when she cut him off, but not this time. He just smiled, took her hand and walked out the door.  
  
"I see that all is well in paradise?" Brooke questioned, seeing them come out, hand in hand.  
  
"For now," Nathan joked. "Until I mess up again." They all, minus Peyton, laughed at his joke, knowing how true it was.  
  
"I'm sure that won't take long," she mumbled. Nathan glanced at her quickly, before adverting his gaze when he saw the hatred in them. Haley looked at her strangely, not sure where the hostility was coming from. Before Haley could call her on it, Brooke poked Peyton in the ribs. "So, Karen should be here soon."  
  
"Yeah," Brooke exclaimed, jumping at the subject change. She glanced at her watch. "She should be here any minute now."  
  
"I think she's coming," Deb told everyone, having heard a car pull up. "Everyone hide." Once everyone was in a hiding spot, Keith flicked out the lights and hid as well. They all waited in silence until the door opened.  
  
"Surprise!" They all yelled as they jumped out from behind the counter. They were al surprised to hear a girlish scream come from the doorway. Knowing it wasn't Karen, Keith quickly flicked on the lights to reveal the squallier. Everyone rolled their eyes at the scared person.  
  
"Tim!"  
  
OTH  
  
That's all for now. Not much else to say, hoped you liked it. Please, reply to tell me what you think. I'll update the more replies I get.


	15. A Rude Awakening

Author's Note: Hello to everyone reading this. I'm glad that you're still into it. I promise that more drama will be coming up really soon, so don't worry about that. I wasn't sure if anyone was still interested in this, so if you are, please tell me so I know.

-OTH-

"You guys scared the hell out of me."  
  
Tim had been running a little late, because he and Lacy had gotten sidetracked when she was helping him pick something out for her to wear. Lacy was currently parking the car, saying that she didn't trust Tim's driving skills. Tim didn't mind though, he was totally smitten with her to care what she said. He was surprised that Lacy had actually stayed with him for an entire week, but he was even more surprised that he felt like he was falling in love with her. And if he was reading the signs correctly, she might be feeling the same way.  
  
"We thought you were Karen," Jake explained, trying to hold back a laugh at the petrified look on his friend's face. "Sorry, to scare you."  
  
"I'm not sorry," Brooke admitted, stepping out from behind the counter. She stalked towards him and he backed up slowly, clearly scared of what she was going to do to him.  
  
"Hey, Brookie," he greeted nervously, giving her a little wave. She didn't stop her movements and continued to walk towards him.  
  
"Do not 'Hey Brookie' me, mister," she warned him, holding up a finger so it was in his face. "You just ruined the surprise. I can't believe you blew it." He, thinking she was just joking, took a step forward and wrapped an arm around her shoulder.  
  
"Aw, come on," he tried. "Don't you think you might be overreacting just a little bit?" The glare she sent him was completely lost on him. The gang watched them and shook their hands at Tim's mistake. Defiantly not something he should have done.  
  
"You're lucky that I'm already a little buzzed and I can't tell which one of you I should be hitting," she told him, stepping out of his grip. She held up her hand that had her cup in it. "Just for this, I'm going to make you do something tonight that will be really embarrassing."  
  
"Sweetie," Luke interrupted, stepping out from behind the counter. "Do you really think that's completely necessary?" She wiped around and leered at him. Tim smiled; glad to have the heat of him. He took this opportunity to slip past her and join the others at the counter.  
  
"I'll make you do it do," she shot at him. "Now, what could I get you and Tim to do together that would be really embarrassing?" Haley's eyes lite up and she raised her hand.  
  
"Oh, how about pay back for all those lesbian jokes Tim makes?"  
  
"Good idea, Hales," Brooke cheered, a smile replacing the tight frown she was wearing before. "It's no wonder why you're considered the smart one in the group." Brooke sauntered past her wide-eyed boyfriend and stood beside Haley. Luke stared at the spot his girl was just standing in for another moment before turning around, looking at her with pleading eyes.  
  
"She was joking, weren't you, Hales?" he begged, looking at Haley with his lost puppy dog eyes. "Tell her you were joking." Haley could only take it for a moment longer before bursting out laughing at the real fear she could see in her best buddy's eyes.  
  
"I was joking," she told Brooke, bumping her with her shoulder. Brooke pretended to pout, but soon a smile broke through. "I think you should just stick to ruining Tim's life." Luke let out a breath, glad that he wasn't going to be subjected to Brooke's wrath and rejoined them.  
  
"Hey, guys," Lacy greeted, just walking through the door. Everyone turned to smile and wave at her. They were all surprised at the fact that they actually liked her. They figured that if she could like Tim, then she had to be an airhead, but it turns out that she's really a great girl.  
  
"Hey! "they all called at the same time. Tim walked over to her and hugged her, giving her a sweet kiss on the lips. Before he could say something, Lacy cut him off.  
  
"Just thought you all might to know, I saw Karen's pulling onto the street right before I came in."  
  
"Okay, everybody hide!" Keith instructed. Luckily almost everyone was still in their hiding spots from before, so they could hidden quickly enough. Lacy and Tim joined the others behind the counter; Brooke had Tim by the ear so he couldn't do anything stupid. "Nobody say anything."  
  
"Okay."  
  
"Shut up, Tim!" Brooke scolded him, giving his ear a pull. Before he could let out a yelp, Brooke covered his mouth so he wouldn't make any noise. She squeezed on his ear harder to make sure he kept his mouth shut.   
  
Karen frowned when she saw that the Café's lights were off. Deb had told her that she had everything under control for the day, to go out and get pampered. She shrugged it off and opened the door. Just when everyone was about to yell surprise, they were cut off.  
  
"God, Brooke, let go!" Tim screeched, jumping up from behind the counter. Karen jumped in surprise at the sudden out burst and quickly flicked on the lights to find Tim standing alone, holding his ear and trying to fight back the tears.  
  
"Tim?" Tim's eyes widened when he realized what he had done. He looked at her and then looked around at all the people in their hiding places. He waved at her.  
  
"Surprise?" It wasn't until just then that she looked around and noticed all the decorations that were hung up around the Café.  
  
"What's going on?" Deciding now was the best time to do it, everybody jumped up.  
  
"Surprise!" Karen was quite happy and very surprised to see everyone there and they all made their way over to wish her a happy birthday. Tim took two steps before he felt someone grab his collar and pull him back.   
  
"I'm sorry, Brooke," he told her, trying to get free from her hold. He finally got free and bolt around the counter, Brooke chasing after him  
  
"I'm going to kill you!" Everybody just ignored their game of tag and began to converse among themselves. Karen looked away from the conversation she was having with Deb to see Haley wrapped in Nathan's arms, a huge smile plastered on her face as they talked to Jake, Peyton and Luke.  
  
"Excuse me," she told Deb and made her way over to them. They all greeted her with a happy birthday, which she thanked them for. "I was wondering if I could talk to Haley and Nathan alone for a minute."  
  
"Sure," Luke nodded; figure this had something to do what happened last week.  
  
"Yeah," Peyton agreed, pulling on Jake's shirtsleeve. "We should probably go rescue Tim." She pointed to where Brooke had Tim laid out on the floor, with both hands pinned behind his back. She was sitting on him, pulling his head back by his hair while he shrieked. Lacy was standing by, watching the scene in amusement, as were many other partygoers.  
  
"Tell them I said hi," Karen smiled. They all nodded before making their way over to join the massacre leaving Haley Nathan alone with Karen.  
  
"So, do you like the party?" Haley asked, getting a little uncomfortable with the situation. She had never felt uncomfortable around Karen, ever. She was like her mother. Karen smiled sweetly at her, wanting her to know that she wasn't coming to yell at them or anything.  
  
"I love it," she answered, giving Haley a huge hug. "Thank you guys so much. When did you guys plan this?"  
  
"Luke and I had started planning it a while ago," she explained. "We just figured that you should get a great birthday for once and we were more than happy to make it happen."  
  
"Well, thank you," she said again. She looked up at Nathan, who was standing by and listening to the whole conversation. He looked a little scared of her, so she decided to lighten the mood. "Hey, Nate, can I get you a coffee?"  
  
"No, thanks," he answered, finally cracking a smile. Haley watched the exchange in confusion and it was written on her face. "She dumped hot coffee on my pants that night after you ran off."  
  
"Really?"   
  
"Yeah."  
  
"That's so sweet," she gushed, crushing Karen in a bear hug. Nathan and Karen both laughed at her antics.  
  
"Gee," Nathan cut in. "Thanks, baby." Haley pulled out of the hug and smacked him in the stomach. She didn't mean it like that and he knew it, she just thought it was nice that Karen cared that much about her to do that to Nathan.  
  
"You were being a big meanie." She snuggled back into his arms and he kissed her on the head, letting her know that she was right. Nathan still couldn't believe that he had lost his control that badly. Haley caught the look in Karen's eyes, she wanted to talk and it wasn't with her. She pulled out of Nathan's grip. "I'm just gonna go over there for a bit..." Without waiting for a reply, she walked away and joined the others.  
  
"I take it, this is the big 'mother to boyfriend' talk?"  
  
"Let's move this into the kitchen," she suggested, motioning towards the room. He nodded and led the way, having just been back there with Haley only half an hour ago. Haley watched them exit, a smile on her face at how protective Karen was being. She was glad to know that someone cared about her.  
  
"So, what did you want to say to me?" Nathan asked once they were in the kitchen. He didn't think this was going to take long so he didn't grab a seat.  
  
"My kids worked really hard to throw this party for me," Karen began, waving her hand to the door they had just come through. "And I don't want to insult them by spending the whole time back here with you, so why don't we make this as quick as possible?"  
  
"Works for me," he answered, surprised at the sudden attitude change she demonstrated. He had only ever seen her like this once before and that was whens he was yelling at his dad to stay away from Luke. This was definitely the mother/boyfriend talk he was dreading.  
  
"Okay, so I'm going to just jump right to my point," she told him. She took a deep breath. "No matter what anyone says, Haley is my daughter. She is my family, okay? And nothing is more important to me than my family."  
  
"I know that..."  
  
"I've seen the way her parents treat her and it makes me sick," she continued, ignoring Nathan's comment. "Nothing hurts her the way they do when they leave her alone."  
  
"I know that too..."  
  
"And if I ever hear you say anything to Haley like what you said to her last week again, I'm going to do more than pour hot coffee on you, you understand?" He gulped and took a step back before nodding. He finally found his voice.  
  
"Yes, ma'am," he answered. Whoa, he had never called anyone ma'am before in his entire life. He never knew Karen could be so scary. He suddenly felt really bad for Lucas.  
  
"Good," she said, going back to her regularly sweet self. She patted him on the chest twice before turning and walking to the door. Just before Nathan was about to let out a sigh of relief, she wiped around. "Oh and one more thing."  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"I love Haley very much,"she began, her voice going back to the scary one she was using before. "And if I ever see her crying because of something you said or did to her...just don't, okay?"  
  
"Okay," he nodded, frantically. Her face immediately lite up again and she gave him one of her best smile before turning and walking back to the party. He let out another breath, happy to finally be alone. Suddenly he heard a scream come from the front room and he ran to see what it was.  
  
"Brooke, please!" Tim cried from his position on the floor. He wiggled to get free, but it was no use. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to." Brooke just pulled on his hair harder causing everyone to laugh. Nathan shook his head and walked over to Haley, trying to ignore Karen's glare as he did so. He reached Haley and brought her into his arms.  
  
"Hey, baby," Haley greeted him, turning her attention away from the 'fight' to kiss her boyfriend. "Everything okay? You survived the wrath of Karen?"   
  
"For now," he answered. The things she said were really getting to him. She said that she didn't want him to hurt her and he didn't want to either, but he knew that he would. No matter how much he tried and no matter how much he lied, he was going to hurt Haley. Maybe too much that even she couldn't forgive him.   
  
-OTH-  
  
All done for now. Once again, thanks so much for the replies. Please keep them coming and tell me if you liked this chapter. I'm not sure if it was any good, so I need to know what you all think. Thanks for reading.


	16. Washroom Heart to Hearts

Author's Note: Thanks a bunch again for all the replies. I want to thanks all of you for still reading this. I'm gonna keep this short, so just enjoy.  
  
----OTH----

"I don't know how much longer I can do this."  
  
It had been almost a month since Haley and Nathan had made up. To Peyton it seemed like they were all over each other more than they used to be. She wasn't sure if it was because they actually were doing it more often, or if it was because she knew what was really going on. Either way, she was about to go insane. Brooke was taking everything a lot calmer because she tried not to think about it as much. If she did, she would be as crazy as Peyton, and everyone could just barely tolerate that. She was becoming snapping with Haley as well as Nathan, and Haley was getting pretty close to calling her on it. It seemed that the only good thing that had come out of this whole thing is a new friend. Turns out that Tim and Lacy are perfect for each other. Everyone thought they were just the cutest things in the world.  
  
"Well, you better work harder," Brooke commented, applying the strawberry flavored gloss to her lips. "Cause you are already starting to push Hales away."  
  
"I am not," Peyton argued, coming up behind her and hitting her in the arm, causing the gloss to miss her lips a little. Brooke glared at her in the mirror before continuing. "Have I?"  
  
"I'd have to agree with Brooke," Lacy said, flushing the toilet and coming out of the stall. "Which, you know, stop and marvel at the concept."  
  
"Officially offended by that."  
  
"Sorry," she replied, turning on the tap and cupping some water into her hands to drink. "Good, I haven't thrown up since I was three. Do you think I'd win if I sued this place for food poisoning."  
  
"Probably not," Brooke answered, clicking the cap on her lip-gloss and pulling out her eyeliner. "Besides, I'm not sick, I think you're just allergic to the lobster."  
  
"That's a good point." She reached over and grabbed the lip-gloss that Brooke was done using and began applying it. Peyton watched them with a pissed off look.  
  
"Hello?" she called, waving her arms in the arm to get their attention. They both stopped their movements and turned to look at her. "Remember me, the person who we were talking about?"  
  
"Drama queen," Brooke mumbled, turning back to the mirror to finish her eyeliner. Lacy was a little more sympathetic. She dropped the lip-gloss back in Brooke's purse and gave Peyton her full attention.  
  
"So, you think I'm really starting to push Hales away?"  
  
"Yeah, you are," Lacy nodded. Peyton's face fell. Pushing Haley away was the last thing she wanted to do. She loved Haley, that's what this whole thing was all about. If she didn't love Haley, then she wouldn't be so worried about hurting her.  
  
"I don't want to," Peyton told her. She sighed and pulled herself up onto the counter. This whole thing was going horribly wrong. When she had decided to keep this a secret, she just figured it would be hard to watch them together, but she would eventually get over it. So far, not so good.  
  
"Well, that's what you're doing," Brooke offered, finally done with her makeup. She closed her purse and dropped in on the floor before jumping up to join the blonde on the counter.  
  
"That's what secrets do to relationships," Lacy informed them. She knew she wasn't really in the place to be lecturing about keeping secrets since she hadn't told Tim that she had sleep with Nathan the same night she sleep with him. She had fought with herself over it, finally deciding that she technically didn't do anything wrong since she wasn't with him yet, so there was no point in throwing gas on a forest fire.  
  
"You're one to talk," Peyton snapped at her. She regretted it as soon as it was out of her mouth. She shook her, throwing Lacy an apologetic look. "I'm sorry. You see what this is doing to me? I'm snapping at my friends."  
  
"I've noticed," Brooke sighed, reaching over and brushing a few lose strains of hair out of Peyton's face. "And pretty soon Haley's going to notice that something is wrong. And we both know that you can never lie to her face."  
  
"I know," Peyton sighed, dropping her head. "She can read me like a book. She's even better than Jake." Before Brooke or Lacy could comment, the door of the bathroom opened and Haley walked in. She looked confused when she saw them sitting on the counter.  
  
"Whoa, group hang time," she laughed, moving over to join them. "What's up?"  
  
"Nothing," Brooke answered quickly, a little too quickly for Haley's liking. She watched as Peyton shot Brooke a glare. She knew something was up. "I mean, we were just talking about how things were going with Tim and Lacy."  
  
"Really?" Haley asked, turning to look at Lacy. Lacy narrowed her eyes at Brooke, not happy that she gave her all that heat. Realizing that Haley was waiting for an answer, she smile sweetly at her, hoping that since they hadn't known each other for that long, she wouldn't be able to tell she was lying.  
  
"Uh, yeah," she stuttered, not doing well under her intense gaze. "They were saying that they couldn't believe Tim kept a girl friend for a whole month." Brooke gave her thumbs up, thinking that it was definitely something they would say.  
  
"That's rude and mean," Haley commented, thinking it over. She looked at Peyton first, then at Brooke. "Sounds about right." She shrugged. "Okay."  
  
"So," Brooke started, trying to get the subject changed before Haley questioned them again. "What are you doing in here? I thought you said you didn't need to pee."  
  
"I don't," Haley answered, excitement dripping into her voice. Peyton's stomach hardened at the sound. She knew that voice; it was especially reserved for Nathan centric news. She talked like that for the whole first week they went out.  
  
"Kay, but you do know this is a bathroom, right?"  
  
"Actually, it's a washroom," Haley smirked at Brooke, who stuck her tongue out at her. She smacked her knee before continuing. "Guess what Nathan just told me?"  
  
"What?" Peyton asked, trying her harder not to let her voice crack. She knew that if she didn't participate in this conversation it would be weird and Haley would no doubt call her on it. Haley's smile widened and she began to jump up and down.  
  
"He said that he had something very important to ask me tomorrow night."  
  
"And..."  
  
"Come on," Haley exclaimed, clapping her hands together in excitement. "You know what that means. I think he's finally going to ask me to move in with him tomorrow night." The pain looked that crossed Peyton's face went unnoticed by Haley.  
  
"Are you sure?" Brooke asked. If Haley had been paying any attention at all, she would have clearly heard the panic in Brooke's voice, but luckily for Brooke, she wasn't.  
  
"Yeah." Haley nodded her head frantically. "He said that he had something important to ask and he said that he had something special planned. That can only mean one thing, right?" She looked at all three girls, expectantly.  
  
"Sounds like it," Lacy answered, after she decided that Brooke and Peyton weren't going to say anything. She tried to give Haley a convincing smile, but if came out flat. Haley looked at them all in confusion.  
  
"I thought you'd be happy for me," she stated, hurt laced in her voice. Hearing the tone in her voice, Brooke quickly snapped out of her daze. She plastered a fake smile on her face and jumped off the counter to crush Haley in a hug.  
  
"I'm so happy for you, Hales," she told her. She couldn't believe she was letting this happen. She knew that keeping this from Haley was a bad idea, but she didn't' say anything because Peyton didn't want her to. It was one thing when if they were just dating, but them moving in together? That's going to far.  
  
"Thanks, Brookie," Haley cheered, not catching the fakeness in her voice. She was so excited about moving in with Nathan. Things had been going so good for them lately. The entire month they had been back together, they hadn't gotten in a single fight. That was a record for them.  
  
"No problem," Brooke replied. She shot Peyton a glare, telling her that she had to do something about this before Haley moved in with Nathan. Peyton nodded her head slowly, indicating that she agreed. Brooke let out a breath and pulled back from Haley's embrace. "I'm so happy for you, sweetie." She kissed her on the forehead. "I've taught you well."  
  
"You sure have."  
  
"Well, let's not keep the boys waiting any longer," Lacy suggested, noticing the silent conversation that was had been Brooke and Peyton. She knew that Peyton needed to talk to Haley.  
  
"Wouldn't want them to get tired," Brooke agreed, reaching down to grab her purse on the floor. "You know what happened last time we stayed in the bathroom too long. I don't think we want to get kicked out of this restaurant too."  
  
"This is the only one left," Lacy joked. Brooke laughed and they walked to the door. Haley moved to follow, but stopped when she felt Peyton grab her arm. She turned around and looked at her strangely.  
  
"I need to talk to you." Haley's wandered to Lacy and Brooke's retreating backs and back at Peyton's pleading eyes.  
  
"Can't it wait?" she asked. She found it a little weird that the blonde wanted to have a heart to heart with her in the washroom of a fancy restaurant. She heard the door close, signaling that the other two girls had already left.  
  
"It really can't." Peyton knew she couldn't do this. She couldn't tell Haley what Nathan used to do to her, and certainly not in a washroom, but she couldn't just stand by and watch as Haley ruined her life.  
  
"Okay," Haley answered, unsurely. She wasn't sure what was up with Peyton lately. She noticed that she was hanging out with her less and less and when they were together, it was always in a group. Even then she would either ignore her all together or snap at her. She was really starting to miss her best friend.  
  
"I know you want to get back out there," Peyton began, ringing her hands together nervously. She had no idea how Haley was going to react to what she was going to say. "So, I'll just make this quick."  
  
"What's up, Pey?" Haley asked, moving passed Peyton to stand on the other side of her. Peyton followed her movements. "You've been acting really weird around me lately. What's going on with you?"  
  
Peyton shook her head. They were right, she was pushing Haley away and she knew it. She ran a hand through her hair in frustration. God, Nathan was just screwing everything up. For a split second, Peyton considered just spilling her guts and telling Haley everything. It would make everything so much easier for her. The thought leaves as quickly as it came and she's back to normal. She closes her eyes, not being able to stand Haley's stare.  
  
"Pey, come on," Haley urged, getting more worried by her silence. "You're scaring me. What's wrong?" It was no or never time.  
  
"Don't do it," Peyton states. At Haley's confused look, she knew she needed to say more. "Say no."  
  
"What?" Haley questions. "Say no? Pey, I already had the drug talk with Karen."  
  
"When he asks you to move in with him," Peyton clarified, her voice so low Haley almost didn't hear it. "Say no." Haley took a step back, trying to absorb what Peyton had just told her.  
  
"Why would I do that?" Haley was shocked at what Peyton had asked her to do. Was she actually being serious or just joking around?  
  
"Please," Peyton begged. "Just trust me when I tell you it's a bad idea."  
  
"Where is this coming from?"  
  
"Nowhere, I just...I just...I know things...about..." Peyton brought her hands to her temple, rubbing it with her thumbs. She had to get her nerves in check before she out right told her everything about Nathan and his whores. "I'm just trying to look out for you. I just don't want you to get hurt."  
  
"How would I get hurt if I moved in with Nathan?"  
  
"I can't, I can't tell you," Peyton finally answered. She sighed, dropping her hands and taking a step towards Haley. "Look, Hales, I know things, but I can't tell you. You just have to trust me on this. I'm telling you that moving in with him is a bad idea."  
  
"How would you know?" Haley asked, defensively. She didn't understand any of this. Five minutes ago she was on top of the world and now her best friend was trying to ruin it all.  
  
"I just do." This wasn't going like it was supposed to go. Haley wasn't supposed to get mad at her. But it didn't surprise her; everything in her life was going down the crapper at this point. Losing her best friend seemed to go with what was going on.  
  
"What do you know?  
  
"I can't tell you," Peyton sighed. This whole thing would be so much easier if she could. Haley rolled her eyes at the blonde. "God, I wish I could, but I can't. If I could all of this would be..."  
  
"Whatever, Peyton," Haley cut her off with a wave of her hand. She was used to her friend hiding things from her. She always did this; she would lie to her then expect her to trust her. She was sick of it. "I'm sick of you hiding things from me."  
  
"I..."  
  
"I'm going back out there to join my boyfriend and my friends." She glared at Peyton as she walked passed her. She opened up the door, but turned back to say something else. "When you feel like telling me the truth, give me a call." She gave Peyton one last chance to say something. When she bowed her head, Haley sighed and walked the rest of the way out the door.  
  
"Shit!" Peyton swore. She couldn't believe she had just messed things up so badly. Now Haley was probably going to move in with Nathan just to spite her. She ran a hand through her hair. She knew that she couldn't let this happen, it was not an option. Time was up. If she was ever going to tell Haley, it had to be now.  
  
----OTH----  
  
That's all for today. I hope you liked it. I guess there was a little bit of drama, but it's all coming in the next few chapters, I promise. Anyway, please tell me what you guys think. I need replies; I eat them for breakfast so please contribute to feeding me, will ya.


	17. New Problems and Ice Cream Shops

Author's Note: Thanks to all of you who replied last chapter. I just can't seem to get enough of them. Okay, so for those of you who want a mental picture of what Lacy looks like, she' would be played by Kaley Cuoco from 8 Simple Rules. Anyways, please tell me what you think. Thanks.  
  
--OTH--

"I can't believe that I'm stuck with you two for the entire day."  
  
Thanks to Nathan's careful planning, Haley was forced to tag along with Brooke and Lucas until he was ready for her to come over. Originally, everybody was supposed to be keeping her busy while he and Tim set the apartment up, but after the night before, the only ones up to the task were the lovebirds. Haley was still mad at Peyton for what happened in the washroom, so her and Jake had decided to stay home and hang out with Jenny. Lacy was up all night throwing up because of the bad lobster she ordered, so Tim had insisted that she go to the doctors just to make sure. Even though she didn't think it was necessary, she went anyway just to make him feel better.  
  
"Oh come on, Hales," Brooke cheered throwing her free arm over Haley's shoulder and pulling her closer. "Remember when it used to be fun to hang out with two of your best friends?"  
  
"Yeah," Luke agreed from the other side of Brooke. "I thought we were pretty good company. I mean, it could be worse, Nathan could have left you with Tim."  
  
"That's true," Haley nodded, shivering at the thought of having to hang out with Tim all day. She could tolerate him in a group, but he was little much when he was by himself.  
  
"So stop with the complaining, missy," Brooke warned, moving her arm off Haley's shoulder to loop it through Haley's. "Or I'll have to take you over my knee."  
  
"In that case," Luke replied. "Continue with the complaining, Hales." Brooke growled and hit Lucas on the arm playfully. He laughed and rubbed his arm, pretending like it actually hurt. "Okay, I'm sorry. Blame a guy for trying."  
  
"It's not that I don't want to hang out with you guys," Haley continued, ignoring Luke's comments. It was kind of sad that she was so used to the gross comments she got from him, Tim and Nathan. Jake was the only one that had any manors. Brooke gave her a look that told her she wasn't buying it. "Okay, so I don't want to hang out with you guys." Lucas gasped dramatically and held a hand to his heart.  
  
"Your words hurt like a fist, you know."  
  
"Oh, please," Haley laughed, rolling her eyes at him. He could be such a fairy sometimes. "Like you two wouldn't rather be having sex at Brooke's house right now."  
  
"The thought has crossed my mind," Brooke answered quickly. Haley smiled, knowing that she was right. "But I love you dearly, so I am willing to wait a couple hours before I get Scott in bed."  
  
"Would you mind not talking about my sex life with my best friend?" Luke asked, trying to cover his face with his free hand. Brooke and Haley laughed at the red that was creepy up on his cheeks.  
  
"Aw," Haley laughed, reaching over Brooke to ruffle Luke's hair. "Is little Lukie getting embarrassed?" Brooke giggled at the sight of her boyfriend; she always thought he was cute when he blushed. That was why she would go out of her way to embarrass him sometimes.  
  
"You guys are so mean." He glared at them, before pulling his hand free from Brooke's grasp and stomping into the ice cream shop ahead of them. They continued to laugh, knowing that he was just joking around.  
  
"Is it creepy that he did that exact thing when we were eight?" Haley asked, laughing even more at the memory. "Karen used to bring us out to get ice cream every Friday night. He would always beg her to let him get two scoops. She would always say no and he would pout and stomp off into the store."  
  
"And you stayed friends with a loser like that?"  
  
"Hey, man, free ice cream," Haley exclaimed. "That's why I've stuck around for so long. Every once in a while, Karen still brings us here." Brooke smiled at the far off look on Haley face. She was sad that she couldn't have been a part of their childhood because they were both such a big part of her life now, but she was happy that she had her own memories with Peyton, Nathan and Tim.  
  
"Does she ever spring for the second scoop?" An evil smile came to Haley face and she laughed, leaning closer to Brooke.  
  
"Don't tell Luke this, but she always got me two scoops," Haley told her. Brooke burst out laughing. Brooke had always envied the relationship Haley had with Karen; they were like mother and daughter. Even thought Brooke's mom was nice enough, she always thought it would be kind of cool to have a play mom, one she could talk to about boys and stuff.  
  
"No kidding?"  
  
"Don't tell her I told you," Haley warned her, smiling when she saw Lucas pouting at one of the empty tables by himself. She knew he wasn't that mad because he was waiting for them until he ordered. If he was upset, he would have gotten his ice cream already and left them to pay for their own.   
  
"He's such a drama queen," Brooke commented as they walked in the shop. She said it loud enough so Luke could hear her. He glared at her and stood up, joining them in the line to order. "Aw, come on, Broody. I love you anyway."  
  
"You love him because of it," Haley laughed. Brooke thought about it before deciding she was probably right. "So, what are we getting?"  
  
"I want the cookie dough," Brooke said, without even looking at the other kinds. She wrapped her arms around Luke's neck and reached up, giving him a peck on the lips. "What are you guys getting?"  
  
"Chocolate and peanut butter," they answered at the same time. They looked at each other and smiled, remembering the old times. Brooke watched their exchanged with a bored look.  
  
"I swear, Broody," she teased, poking him on the nose. "If Haley wasn't so much hotter than you, I'd think you were twins." Haley laughed and turned to the lady to make their order since the other two were too busy macking on each other.  
  
"Please," Luke laughed. "I'm am so much prettier than Haley." Brooke raised and eyebrow at him, finding it humorous that he choose the word pretty instead of hot. He realized his mistake. "I should really just not talk anymore, shouldn't I?"  
  
"Just stand there and look pretty," she instructed him. He narrowed his eyes and her before laughing and reaching down to give his a kiss on the lips. By the time they pulled apart, Haley had their cones in her hands.  
  
"There's got to be some kind of law against PDA in ice cream shops," Haley commented handing Brooke her cone. "I mean, children come in here. They don't need to be seeing that." She passed Luke his cone. Brooke looked at it than back at her's.  
  
"Hey," she complained. "Why is his bigger than mine?"  
  
"Because I got him two scoops," Haley answered, smiling as Luke's eyes lit up in excitement. Brooke's mouth dropped open, upset that she only got one. Lucas looked at Haley and gave her the biggest smile she had ever seen.  
  
"Really?" he asked, remembering all those times he begged his mom for two scoops, but never got it. She nodded her head. "Hales! That's so sweet." He shoved the cone in Brooke's hand before rushing forward and lifting Haley up in his arms. He squeezed her and spun her around.  
  
"Your welcome," she laughed at him. Brooke stood there, holding both her and Luke's ice cream cones, watching them having fun. Even though she knew that there was no romantic feelings there what so ever, she couldn't help but think of Haley as the enemy right now so she did the only thing she could think of.   
  
"Your mom used to get Haley two scoops!" she exclaimed. Lucas immediately stopped his movement and dropped her to the floor. He looked at her like she had just kicked his puppy. Haley glared and Brooke, who just smirked at her before licking her ice cream.  
  
--OTH--  
  
Across town, Nathan and Tim were frantically trying to get everything set up perfectly for later that night. Tim had volunteered to help out, knowing that he needed something to keep his mind of Lacy. He was so worried that something might be wrong with her; if he sat at home he would go crazy. He knew that it was just an allergic reaction, but love makes you do the wacky.  
  
"Thanks, again for helping out, man," Nathan called from his bedroom. After a minute he appeared, three candles in hand. "There was no way I could have gotten all of this done by myself."  
  
"No problem, dude," Tim replied from his position on the couch. They had gotten everything set up perfectly. The dinner was cooking, the music was picked out, the floor was visible and the candles were in place. "I needed something to keep my mind of off Lacy."  
  
"I'm already told you," Nathan said, dropping the last few candles down on the table in the middle of the room. "Everything is going to be fine. You totally overreacted to her being sick."  
  
"I know," Tim sighed, as Nathan pushed his feet off the table so he could put a candle there. He sighed and leaned his head against the back of the couch. "It's just, I love her, you know? I've never felt this way about a girl before. It's so weird, it's like everytime she smiles my day gets so much better."  
  
"Yeah," Nathan nodded. He finished his job and flopped down on the couch beside his best friend. "I know the feeling. That's exactly how I feel about Haley."  
  
"She's a great girl, Lacy is," Tim added. Nathan nodded his head, agreeing with him. He had to admit, as much as he tried to hate her, she was a good person. She wasn't bitchy like Peyton and she wasn't annoying like Brooke, she was just there, talking when she was talked to.  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"I'm just afraid that I'm going to mess things up with her." Tim titled his head to look at Nathan. "How do I not be a screw up? That's what I'm best at, right?"   
  
"Come on, man," Nathan tried, patted him on the back. "Don't be so down on yourself." He straightened up. "Look, the only thing I can tell you is don't lose her. Whatever you do, don't screw it all up by cheating on her."  
  
"I would never do that," Tim told him. He shook his head at the thought. He could even imagine doing that to Lacy. "I love her." Nathan was about to protest, but stopped when there was a knock at the door. He looked at his watch, afraid that it was Haley coming early.  
  
"That can't be her already." They looked over at the door. "I told Brooke and Luke to keep her bus until I called them." He started to get up.  
  
"It's probably just Lacy," Tim answered, jumping up and pushing Nathan back down in his seat. "I told her to come here as soon as she was done." Nathan nodded and sat back. Tim wiped open the door and it was Lacy on the other side. "Hey, baby," he greeted her, giving her a kiss and leading her inside.  
  
"Hey, sweetie." She waved at Nathan as Tim led her over to the couch. Tim sat back down in his seat, motioning for Lacy to sit beside him, but she sat on the table in front of him instead.  
  
"So how was it?" He started to get nervous at the pale look on her face. "What's wrong?"  
  
"It turns out that it wasn't the lobster," she began. Tim's faced turned white and he started running all the possibilities through his head. Nathan watched the exchange, feeling uncomfortable. He started to stand up.  
  
"I should leave you two alone..."  
  
"It's okay," Lacy assured him. He looked at her to make sure before sitting back down. "You're gonna find out eventually. Might as well stay."  
  
"Do you need a liver?" Tim asked suddenly. He had no idea what was going on, but he knew that he didn't want her to be sick. "Cause you can have one of mine." Lacy smiled at him gently, glad that she had such a caring boyfriend. She just hoped that he still felt that way after she told him.  
  
"Dude, you only have one liver," Nathan corrected, quietly. He felt bad for his buddy, knowing how much he loved her. He had no idea what he would do if Haley were telling him something like this. "And you'll die without it."  
  
"I don't care," Tim responded. They could both tell that he was starting to panic at the thought of losing Lacy. "She can have it anyway." Lacy laughed and laid a hand on his knee, hoping it will calm him down a little.  
  
"Tim, relax," she instructed him. He immediately relaxed at the tone in her voice. He trusted her and if she said he should relax, that's what he would do. "It's nothing like that."  
  
"Thank God." He let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding. He brought Lacy's hand to his lips and kissed them. "Then what's the matter?" This time she took a deep breath.  
  
"I was going to try and ease you into this," she began, glancing at Nathan who had remained silent at the other end of the couch. She was starting to think letting him stay was a bad idea, but it was too late now. She turned back to Tim. "But I don't think you can take it much longer."  
  
"Just tell me," he told her softly. He looked her in the eyes, letting her know that she could tell him anything. Deciding that if she waited any longer, she would lose her nerve, Lacy just spit it out.  
  
"I'm pregnant," she stated. Tim's eyes widen and all the air seemed to be sucked out of the room. Lacy tried to read his thoughts, but she couldn't tell what he was thinking. "Baby, say something."  
  
"Whoa," was all he could say. He remained silent for a few more minutes, thinking things over before finally speaking. "I...I don't know if I'm ready to be a father." Lacy closed her eyes at the words. God, she wished it were that easy.  
  
"That's that thing," she began, her eyes wandering back to Nathan at the opposite end of the couch. By the look on his face, he was thinking the same thing as her. Her eyes stayed locked with Nathan's as she spoke to Tim. "You might not be the father."  
  
--OTH--  
  
That's all for now. I was trying my best to keep that as surprising as I could, while dropping little hints along the way. I was surprised that no one picked up on the hint with Lacy being sick in the bathroom. Anyway, I hope you all like the newest twist and please tell me what you think. Thanks.


	18. The Truth Hurts

Author's Note: Hey, everyone. Thank you all soooo much for the great reviews. I'm glad that I was able to surprise at least some of you, but I'm proud of those that figured it out on their own. Sorry if it sucks, but I'm so tired right now, but I knew you were all waiting so I decided to update. So, you better enjoy it.  
  
--OTH—

"I'm sorry, what did you just say?"  
  
After Lacy's last confession, the room had been filled with silence, each person having their own fears. Tim was afraid that Lacy had cheated on him with some guy, Lacy was afraid that Tim would break up with her and Nathan was afraid that his entire life was over. If Lacy was carrying his baby, there was no way that he was going to be able to keep that a secret from Haley, and he was scared out of his mind that Haley would never be able to forgive him. If he lost Haley, he didn't know what he would do. Snapping back to reality, deciding that he should wait to see if the kid was even his before he started planning out his future without Haley.  
  
"I said that you might not be the father," Lacy repeated. She whole car ride over, she had been playing this scene out in her head. She knew that Nathan was going to be there, so she decided that it would be best if she just came out and told the truth. It was about time someone around there did.  
  
"That's what I thought," Tim mumbled. Nathan was surprised by the look of pure devastation on his best friend's face. He never really thought about how all of this, him sleeping with Lacy, would affect his buddy. Suddenly, he felt five times worse about this whole situation.   
  
"Tim," Lacy began, reaching forward and putting her hand on his knee. He immediately pushed it away. "Please, Tim, let me explain."  
  
"Who is he?"  
  
"Who?"  
  
"The guy that you cheated with," he clarified, not in the mood to have a long conversation about this right now. He was heartbroken, but he refused to let her see him cry.  
  
"No, Tim," she said, shaking her head frantically. She knew she should have explained the whole thing first. "It wasn't like that."  
  
"Who is he!" he blew up and her. He didn't feel like being played right now. He just wanted to know whose face he had to pound in. Lacy glanced at Nathan for a split second, not long enough for Tim to notice before looking at the ground.  
  
"I don't know," she lied. She felt terrible lying about this, but she didn't want to end any friendships. The last thing she wanted to was to ruin Tim and Nathan's relationship, let alone Nathan and Haley's. "I didn't get his name."  
  
Nathan was more than a little surprised at Lacy's answer. He fully expected her to tell him everything. He watched as tears came to her eyes and he made his decision. He couldn't do this anymore. If she was really pregnant with his child and he didn't take responsibility for it, then he was Dan. It didn't matter if he remained faithful to Haley, married her, have five kids and loved happily ever after. She would still be there with his kid, just like Karen was still there with Luke.  
  
"It was me," he answered suddenly. Both Lacy and Tim wiped their heads around to stare at him in shock. He locked eyes with Lacy and nodded his head softly, apologizing for not saying something sooner. Tim on the other hand, looked at him in confusion.  
  
"What?"  
  
"It's me," he repeated. He sighed, knowing the yelling that was going to come after. "I'm the other guy." Tim sat there, stock still, running the information over in his head. He blinked a few times before standing up to pace the room. Lacy spun around on the table to watch his movements. Nathan, for the first time in his entire life, felt ashamed. He had never seen his friend so pissed before and it was scaring him. If Tim was this mad, when he told Haley he'll be lucky to walk away from this with his balls in tact. "Say some thing, man."  
  
"I don't even know why I'm surprised," Tim replied. That was not the answered Nathan had expected. Tim stopped moving to stare at Nathan. "I mean, this is so typical of you."  
  
"Tim..." Lacy tried, knowing what was going to come next. They've had this conversation before and she didn't want him to have to go through went he went through he first time he told it.  
  
"What the hell are you talking about?" Nathan cut her off. He felt bad for what he did to his friend, but technically he didn't do anything wrong, not to him anyway. And he really didn't see how this was typical.  
  
"You always had to have everything," he answered. He knew now wasn't really the best tome for this talk, but he had to get it off his chest. "You were Nathan Scott and you got everything, while I got nothing."  
  
"Come on..."  
  
"Remember when we were five," he began. "I begged my mom to get me that awesome red bike that I wanted so badly. That was the year my grandpa died, and he promised me that he was going to get me that bike, but my mom didn't believe me." Nathan bowed his head. "So what did you do, you got your dad to buy you the bike and you won't let me ride it, not once."  
  
"I was five..."  
  
"Or when we were in sixth grade," he continued, not interested in hearing anything Nathan had to say. "When I had a crush on Julie Williams. When you found out, you went up to her in front of the entire class and kissed her. You guys went out for the rest of the year." Lacy watched Tim retell his stories and she felt just as bad for him now as she did when she first heard him. "Or how about on my sixteenth, when everyone was supposed to be there to celebrate with me, you sleep with Peyton for the first time and all of a sudden, it's all about you."  
  
"Tim, I'm..."  
  
"You've always taken everything from me," he finally said, saying what this whole thing was really about. His anger faded a bit, turning to sadness as he looked at Lacy. "I finally had something of my own. I loved her and you just had to take her away. Just once, why couldn't you have let me have something?"  
  
"Tim," Lacy whispered, assuming that he was done. She slowly stood up and walked over to him. When he didn't move, she wrapped her arms around his waist. "It wasn't like that."  
  
"She's right," Nathan added. Tim glared at him, but didn't say anything. Taking that as somewhat of a good sign, he stood up. "It wasn't like that at all. When we hooked up, you hadn't even met her yet." Tim looked at him unsurely.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"The night we met," Lacy explained. "At that club. Nathan had come up to me and we were both in a bad place. One thing led to another, and we ended up having sex in his car out in the parking lot."  
  
"So," Tim drew out, thinking everything over in his head. He wanted to make he had everything straight. "You didn't cheat on me?" Lacy kissed him gently on the lips before shaking her head.  
  
"I would never do that." Tim smiled and turned to Nathan, still a little angry at him.  
  
"And you didn't betray me?"  
  
"Not this time, dude," he laughed, patting him on the back. "Seriously, I was a totally dick my entire life, especially to you. I'm kind of trying something new."  
  
"Yeah, okay," Tim nodded. They did their little handshake/hug thing that no girl ever understands, before pulling apart. Suddenly a thought came to Tim. "Wait, you guys slept together at the club?" They both nodded. "You cheated on Haley?" Nathan sighed and nodded again.  
  
"Unfortunately," he muttered. He knew before that it had been a mistake, but given the new information that he had received tonight, this whole thing was starting to look like the biggest mistake that he'll ever make. Lacy rolled her eyes, knowing where this was going.  
  
"How could you do that do her?" he demanded, stepping away from Lacy to approach Nathan. "What the hell where you thinking? She loves you so much and you turn around and hurt her like..."  
  
"Okay," Lacy shouted, stepping in between the two before Tim could throw a punch. "It's really sweet that you care that much about Haley, Tim, it really is, but can you save the protective crap for later?"  
  
"But he..."  
  
"I know what he did," she interrupted him. "I was there, I helped him do it and I feel terrible about it. But my doctor is keeping his office open late so the three of us can go down there and get paternity tests." Tim's eyes widened.  
  
"Tests?" he questioned, starting to panic. "But I didn't study!" Lacy, despite the situation couldn't help but laugh. She shook her head and kissed him in an attempt to calm him down.  
  
"Baby, it's not that kind of test." He let out a breath. "It's to see which one of you is the father. He said that if we do them tonight, then he should have the results by tomorrow afternoon."  
  
"Okay," Tim answered. "We'll take my car." Lacy nodded and they moved to the door. Tim grabbed his jacket and opened the door for his girlfriend. When she was out of the apartment, he turned back to Nathan who hadn't moved from his spot. "For the record, I think you're a jackass. I can't believe that I ever thought you were cool." With that, he was out the door.  
  
Nathan looked around his apartment at all the things that he had set up for tonight. It was supposed to be such a great night. He had cooked Haley's favorite dinner and rented her favorite movie. When they were done both, he was going to ask her to move in with him. It was supposed to be perfect. They were supposed to be together forever. Now, he would be lucky if she even looked at him again. He bent down, blew out the candle and walked out the door.  
  
--OTH--  
  
"The wait is killing me," Haley sighed, dropping her fork onto the empty plate. After ice cream, Lucas had insisted that they head over to the Café to get some of Karen's famous apple pie. The girls were both full from the ice cream, but he made them each have a slice.  
  
"Relax, Hales," Brooke suggested, shoving the last bit of her pie into her mouth. She leaned back and rubbed her tummy, not believing that she just ate so much. She looked at her watch. "He should be calling soon to tell us it's okay to bring you over."  
  
"How much longer?" she complained. Brooke's only answer was a shrug of her shoulders. She turned to Luke who was too busy eating his third piece of pie to answer her. She rolled her eyes at him and turned back to Brooke. "I don't see why I can't just go over now. I mean, I already now what all of this is about."  
  
"You do?" Lucas asked, pie spraying out of his mouth as he talked. Brooke made a grossed out face at him, slapping him in the arm. "Sorry." He swallowed the last bit down before repeating himself. "You do?"  
  
"Come on," she sighed. Did they honestly think that she was that oblivious? "He wasn't exactly the most subtle guy in the world." Brooke nodded her head in agreement.  
  
"Yeah," she added. "We knew he was going to do it a month ago. We were talking about it on the beach the first day of summer." Lucas stuck out his tongue and mimicked her with his hand.  
  
"Well, aren't we Miss Know-It-Alls?" Brooke smiled sweetly at him and gave him the finger. He laughed before looking at Haley. "So, are you going to say yes?"  
  
"Of course," she cheered, her face lighting up at the thought of it. She had been thinking about it ever since their conversation at the beach. She couldn't think of anything that would make her happier right now than to move in with Nathan.  
  
"I see someone's excited," Brooke teased. Pretending to be happy about this whole thing was starting to get harder and harder for her. Sometimes she had to fight the urge to just grab Haley and shake her, telling her that Nathan was just a cheating bastard. She didn't want to see her best friend hurt and she was terrified that this was just going to get a whole lot worse before it gets any better.  
  
"Are you kidding?" she asked, practically giggling. Brooke's felt her heart squeeze at the sound. Haley James didn't giggle, so Brooke knew it had to be big. "I didn't sleep at all last night, just thinking about it. It's like some kind of fairytale or something, you know."  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"I can't wait any longer," Haley decided, pulling out her cell phone. "I have to see him." Before Brooke or Lucas could stop her, the ringer to Nate's cell was already ringing. After four rings, he finally picked up.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Hey, baby," she greeted sweetly. Her smile spread at the sound of his voice.  
  
"Hey, Haley," he greeted, his voice not like she expected it to be. She figured he'd use his sexy voice that he always did when they talked on the phone before a big date. "What's up?"  
  
"I was just calling to ask if it was safe to come over yet." Brooke and Lucas both noticed that her voice went down a few notches on the excitement scale. They shared a worried look. "Are you in a car?"  
  
"I'm sorry, Hales," he explained, sadly. He knew that she was looking forward to this and he hated to hear disappointment in her voice. He just knew it was going to be a million times worse when she found out. "But something's come up. It looks like we won't be having dinner tonight."  
  
"Oh," was all she could say. She saw the looks her best friends were giving her, so she quickly tried to hide her pain. "So, I'll get a rain check than? We'll do it another night?"  
  
"I don't think so," he answered. He would only be kidding himself and getting her hopes up if he told her that they were going to still move in together. He was positive that she was going to break up with him when he told her the truth. "I'm sorry again, but I don't think we should reschedule our date."  
  
"But..."  
  
"I'm sorry, I gotta go." Before she could say anything, he hung up the phone. He felt horrible leaving it like that, but he couldn't stand to hear her voice anymore without breaking down.  
  
Haley looked at her phone, surprised to hear a dial tone. She had no idea what that was about. Just this morning, Nathan was just as excited about tonight as she was and now he was calling the whole thing off. What was that about? Brooke tried to read the look on her face, but she couldn't tell what was wrong.  
  
"Sweetie?" she questioned, waving her hand in front of Haley's face. She gently took the phone out of Haley's hand, causing the girl to look up. "What's wrong?"  
  
"Um, Nathan... he uh, he told me not to come over." Brooke's eyes widened and Lucas raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, he said that something came up and we couldn't do it tonight."  
  
"When are you going to do it?"  
  
"He said never," she answered, looking past Luke and at the wall behind him. She was bust trying to figure out what she did wrong. She knew it had to be something she did, she just didn't know what. "He said we shouldn't do it after all."   
  
"Oh, baby," Brooke sighed, getting out of her chair and walking over to Haley's side of the table. She got down on her knees so she was at eye level with her and pulled Haley into her arms.  
  
"What did I do, Tigger?" Haley asked, starting to cry into her shoulder. Brooke closed her eyes, knowing that Haley only called her Tigger when she was really upset about something.  
  
"You didn't do anything, babe," Brooke assured her. "Nathan's just an idiot." Lucas watched as Haley continued to cry. He let out a sigh, not happy about the situation. Now he was going to have to kick his brother's ass.  
  
--OTH--  
  
That's it. I know it's not the best, you all probably wanted better, but it's soooooo late right now and I'm going insane. I think my eyes have actually turned into squares. Anyway, please tell me what you think. Peace.


	19. Overheard Answering Machine Messages

**Author's Note:** Hey, all. Thanks for the great replies. I'm sorry if this chapter sucks, but please, tell me what you think anyway. Enjoy.  
  
**--OTH**--

"Nathan, are you in here?"  
  
After her phone call with Nathan the night before, it had taken Brooke over an hour to clam her down and convince her that she didn't do anything wrong. When she was finally done crying, Lucas had walked her and Brooke back to Brooke's house for yet another sleepover. Throughout the entire time that Nathan and Haley had been going out, whenever they got in a fight, Haley either slept over at Brooke or Peyton's, or they stayed at her house. Needless to say, they hardly ever slept alone. The two of them had stayed up all night talking about both Lucas and Nathan, before finally passing out on the couch during Can't Hardly Wait.  
  
"Nate!" Haley called out again, stepping into the apartment and closing the door behind her. She looked around at all the candles and she had to stop herself from thinking about what was supposed to happen that night before. She walked further into the house. "Nathan, are you home?"  
  
She couldn't believe that he wasn't there. It was almost two in the afternoon and he was nowhere to be seen. She had no idea where he could be, since she knew from Luke that they had no basketball plans and she knew that there was no possible way that he would go to either of his parent's homes. Deciding it was the only thing she hadn't tried, she pulled out her cell and dialed Nathan's.  
  
_"Hey, you've reached Nathan's cell, if you haven't noticed I'm either not available or I checked the caller ID and don't want to talk to you. Whatever it is, do your business and I might call you back."  
_  
**Beep**  
  
Figuring that he didn't want to talk to her; she hung up the phone without leaving a message. He never called anyone back anyway. Sensing that staying there and seeing everything he had set up for last night was only going to make her feel worse, she moved to the door. When she was just a few feet away from it, there was a knock. She looked at it in surprise for a moment before coming to her senses and pulling it open.  
  
Peyton.  
  
"Hey," she greeted her coldly. She was still upset at her for what happened in the washroom of the restaurant. She hated it when people lied to her, and Peyton obviously was doing just that.  
  
"Hey," Peyton replied back, clearly surprised to see her there. Brooke had called her as soon as Haley had left that morning, telling her everything that happened. She was under the impression that Nathan didn't ask Haley to move in.  
  
"What are you doing here?" Haley asked, not keeping the anger out of her voice. She didn't have the energy to play nice with Peyton right now, and more importantly, she didn't want to. "Come to conspire some more with my boyfriend? You guys making up some more plans to lie to me?"  
  
"Haley, come on," Peyton tried. Haley stood there, arms folded across her chest, signaling that she was listening. Peyton looked down the hall at the people coming in and out of their apartments. "Do you mind if I come in?"  
  
"I don't see why not," Haley sniped, moving aside to make room for the blonde to walk past her. She closed the door after Peyton was in. "Although, you'll be happy to know that it isn't my apartment. You got your wish, we're not living together and by the sounds of it, we never will be."  
  
"Yeah," Peyton sighed, bowing her head. She had no idea why she thought it was a good idea to come in. She had just come over there to ask Nathan what the hell happened last night. Apparently, Haley had the same idea. "Ah, Brooke told me what happened."  
  
"Of course she did," Haley mumbled. She should have known that Brooke was going to go running to Peyton to tell her everything. That girl was what most people called a gossip whore, she just gave it away. "So what, you came to rub it in or something? Do your little 'I told you so' dance?"  
  
"You know I only do that to Jake," Peyton replied, trying to lighten the mood. By the look on Haley's face, she wasn't going for it. Yep, this was definitely a bad idea, they were getting nowhere and she assumed they were going to stay on that track.  
  
"So are you happy now?" Haley asked in a hurt tone. She chaste herself for not hiding it better, but she just couldn't help it. Peyton's head shot up and locked she eyes Haley.  
  
"Why would I be happy?"  
  
"Well, you were right," Haley explained. There was voice inside her head telling her that she should just shut up, but like every other human being on the face of the earth, she ignored it. "You said that it was bad idea, that I'd get hurt, and guess what? I'm hurt, so you were right."  
  
"Oh, yeah," Peyton retorted, not thrilled with Haley at the moment. "I'm jumping for frickin joy right now, can't you tell? Nothing makes me happier than seeing my best friend in pain, I just thrive off it." Haley could tell by the tone in her voice that she was not in the mood to play games right now.  
  
"I'm sorry," she whispered. She didn't want to do this. It was hard enough not talking to her boyfriend, she didn't need to be fighting with her best friend too. She let out a groan and ran a hand through her hair. "I shouldn't have said that."  
  
"No, you shouldn't have," Peyton joked, but in a serious voice. Haley knew by the look on her face that she was just kidding though. "Look, I hate fighting with you, Hales, nothing makes me feel worse."  
  
"I know what you mean," Haley commented. There wasn't anything that made her feel worse than when she was fighting with someone. "This one time in fifth grade, Luke and I got in this huge fight and we didn't talk for like two weeks. That was when I realized that I had no other friends."  
  
"I would've hung out with you," Peyton replied, with a smile. Haley laughed and nodded her head in thanks. Peyton looked around the apartment and noted the set up. She was surprised that he went to all this trouble and even more surprised that he would blow it. "So, he didn't say what happened last night?"  
  
"Nope," Haley answered, once again her feelings were totally readable. She was one of those people that were so easy to read, she was never good at hiding her feelings. She could if she had to, but if she was really upset about something, everyone knew. "I called his cell and he sounded like he was in a car, but I'm not sure. He just said that it was a bad idea and that we shouldn't do it after all."  
  
"No reason?" Haley shook her head and Peyton gave her a sad smile. "That's weird. I'm sorry, I know how excited you were about it."  
  
"Thanks," Haley mumbled. "I thought you might know what was going on."  
  
"Why would I know what he's up to?" Peyton asked, truly surprised by her comment. She was last person that would know what was going on with Nathan.  
  
"I just thought that maybe this had something to do with your little warning," she explained. She was careful not to sound accusing; the last thing she wanted was to get into another fight with the blonde. That was the last thing she needed right now. "Whatever it is that you can't tell me."  
  
"Hales..."  
  
"Look, whatever," she said, trying to tell her that she didn't want to have this conversation. Yes, she was still upset that Peyton was lying to her, but it looked like that wasn't going to stop so she just wanted to get over it for now and they could talk it out later. "I don't want to talk about it right now."  
  
"Well, I do," Peyton stated. She put her hands on her hips. She had thought this over and has come to a decision. She was going to tell Haley what was going on. Nathan said that he wasn't going to hurt Haley again and he did just that last night. Plus, it looked like all signs pointed to cheating again and she had told him that if she even had a suspicion that he was seeing someone else again, then she was going to come clean.  
  
"What is there to talk about?" Haley snapped, finally reaching her breaking point. He boyfriend was missing and her best friend was lying to her. Her parents were never home and she was starting to lose it. She didn't know how much more she could take. "You've been lying to me for the past...you knows how long. Do you really think that now is the best time to be talking about this?"  
  
"I really don't see why not," Peyton answered. She felt bad for Haley, she really did, and she knew that telling Haley right now wasn't exactly the best idea she's ever had, but she needed to tell her now before she lost her nerve. She took a step towards Haley. "Look, I hate that this thing is between us and I just want to be honest with you."  
  
"Yeah, I know," Haley sighed, running a shaky hand through her hair. She didn't know what the hell was going on. Just two days ago, she was happy, and now she felt like she was breaking. "I guess it's about time that somebody around here told the truth, right?"  
  
"Who would have thought that it's be me," Peyton laughed nervously. She was scared to death that it was too late to come clean, that Haley wasn't going to be able to forgive her.  
  
"Is this going to hurt?"  
  
"Yeah, it really is," Peyton told her, not seeing the point in lying to her anymore. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Okay, this is really hard to tell you, so I'm just going to come right out and say..."  
  
**Ring, Ring**  
  
"Go ahead," Haley told Peyton. She knew that if Peyton stopped now, she wasn't going to be able to start up again. A stroke of courage like that only comes up once for a person like Peyton. "The machine can get it."  
  
"No, get it," Peyton insisted. She needed time to think about what she was going to say anyway. "It might be Nathan." Haley was about to argue, but decided against it, knowing that Peyton would win. She let out a frustrated breath and stalked over to the phone. She pressed the talk button, putting it on speakerphone so Peyton could hear.  
  
"Hello?" Peyton felt really sorry for whoever was on the other end. It was never fun dealing with an angry Haley, not fun at all.  
  
"Hello," the man called back. Neither Haley nor Peyton recognized the voice that came through. They shared a confused expression. "This is Dr. Mitchell O'Neil, from the Tree Hill Free Clinic. Is Nathan Scott there?"  
  
"Uh, no he's not," Haley answered in a softer voice then before. Why would a doctor be calling Nathan? She was suddenly worried that something was wrong with Nathan. "But I can take a message."  
  
"I'm sorry, who am I speaking to?"  
  
"This is his girlfriend," she answered, annoyed that the man hadn't answered her yet. Peyton could tell that Haley was starting to get worried so she walked over to her and laid a hand on her lower back to try and calm her down.  
  
"Oh, I didn't realize." By the tone in his voice, it sounded to Haley that he knew her, but he certainly didn't. "Well, I was going to be calling you next anyway. I was just calling Mr. Scott to tell him that we got the test results back."  
  
"Test result?" she asked, more to herself than the doctor. She glanced at the blonde to see if she knew what was going on. Peyton shook her head.  
  
"Yes, the paternity tests," he clarified. Haley's stomach topped to her feet and blinked a few times, trying to clear her vision. "It appears that Mr. Scott is the father for your baby."  
  
"My baby?" she whispered. Without realizing it, her hand found it's way to her stomach. She fought to get past the thump that had formed in her throat. "What baby?"  
  
"Who is this?" he asked, flipping through his papers. He found the mother's name. "Is this not Mrs. Roberts?"  
  
"No," Haley choked out. Peyton closed her eyes and brought her free hand to rest on Haley's shoulder. This was so not good. "This is Haley James, Nathan's girlfriend. What's going on?"  
  
"I'm sorry," he stuttered out. "There's been a mistake. I thought you were someone else. I should really be going now..." Haley finally caught up on everything he had said.  
  
"Wait," she exclaimed. "Wait, did you say Roberts?" Peyton sighed, hoping she didn't catch that bit. She was never going to involve Lacy in this, she didn't know, it wasn't her fault. Looks like it's too late. "As in Lacy Roberts?"  
  
"Yes," he answered with a sigh. "That's what it says. I'm sorry to cause any trouble, ma'am. I made a terrible mistake." Before she could say anything else, the doctor hung up, leaving the dial tone as the only sound in Nathan's apartment. Both girls stood in silence, afraid to talk.  
  
"Hales," Peyton tried, pulling on Haley's shoulder so she turned around. She tried to pull Haley into a hug, but Haley pushed her away. She glared at the blonde, tears just making their way down her cheeks. "Hales..."  
  
"You knew," she stated, staring Peyton directly in the eyes. As much as she wanted to, Peyton refused to look away. "You knew about all of this. That's what you didn't want to tell me."  
  
"I knew about the cheating, yes," Peyton answered. "but not about the pregnacy." She took a step forward,but stopped when Haley took a step back. "It was that night at the club, when he left after that fight you guys had. I saw them come back in."  
  
"Him and Lacy," Haley clarified, wanting to make sure that the doctor was right. She would hate to kill the wrong girl.  
  
"Hales..."  
  
"I'm friends call me Hales," she interrupted her. Peyton flinched at the commented, it cutting through her like a knife. This was not how this was supposed to go. Yes, she knew that Haley was not going to be happy, but she didn't think it would be this bad. "If I was your friend, you would have told me."  
  
"Haley, you are my friend," Peyton declared. "My best friend. Please, I was stupid and I know I should have told you. I should've listened to Brooke instead of Nathan..."  
  
"Whoa, whoa," Haley called out, holding up her hands to stop her. "Brooke knew about this too?" Peyton's eyes widened, not believing that she was stupid enough to drag Brooke into this whole thing. She was not going to be pleased.  
  
"A little."  
  
"Un-freaking-believable!"  
  
"She wanted to tell you," Peyton added quickly. The last thing she wanted to do was get Brooke in trouble. "She told me I should, but I won't listen. Don't be mad at her."  
  
"And Lacy?" Haley questioned in a tight voice. "What about her?"  
  
"She didn't know," Peyton explained. "That night at the club, she didn't know that he had a girlfriend, it wasn't her fault."  
  
"I don't even know why you're defending them." Haley shook her head and walked to the door. Peyton quickly followed. She reached out and grabbed her arm.  
  
"Haley, please," Peyton cried. She knew that if Haley walked out that door, she was never going to talk to her again. And that was something that Peyton wasn't about to let happen. "We didn't want to hurt you, I didn't want to hurt you."  
  
"Really?" Haley snapped, pulling her arm out of Peyton's grip. "Well, I just found out that my boyfriend cheated on me with one of my friends and that she's pregnant with his kid. And to top it off, my two best friends knew about it the entire time and didn't bother to tell me." She glared at Peyton as she opened the door. "Yeah, how do you think I feel now?"  
  
Peyton didn't know what to say. Haley just shook her head and walked out the door, slamming it when she was out. It took the tears a few moments to make their presents, but when they did, they wouldn't stop. Peyton leaned against the door and slowly slid to the floor. She rested her head on her knee as she cried. She blew it and she had no idea how she could fix it. For the first time since her mother died, she felt completely lost.  
  
**--OTH--**  
  
That's all. Sorry it took so long and I'm so sorry if it sucks. I really don't have the time or energy right now to re-read this, so if it's horrible, again, I'm sorry. Please tell me what you all think and I'll try to update again really soon.


	20. Everybody Hates Peyton Day

Author's Note: Hey, everyone. I know, I'm sorry, I promised this chapter would be up sooner, but there was a problem with my computer. Have no fear though, I'm here now.

-OTH-

"Uh, Luke, stop. I can't do this right now."  
  
Brooke and Haley had spent the entire night on the couch in her living room, so needless to say, Brooke didn't get the best night of sleep. Despite Brooke's protestations, Haley had left around noon to go find Nathan and see what happened last night. As if he had some sort of radar, Lucas was at her house within ten minutes of Haley's departure. They were currently making out on the couch she had slept on earlier, until Brooke put a stop to it. She pushed Lucas off of her and sat up, straightening out her shirt.  
  
"What's wrong now?" Lucas asked with a sigh, moving closer to her. She did this sometimes, they would be making out and then she would just stop it. It usually meant that she had something on her mind.  
  
"I can't stop thinking about Haley," Brooke answered, snuggling into Luke's embrace. She had made Haley promise to call her when she knew something, and it had been over three hours and there was still no word from her best friend.  
  
"Haley you say?" he teased, raising an eyebrow and smiling suggestively at her. She nodded her head without looking at him. "Even though she's my best friend, I have to admit, she's pretty hot. I think I could get into that."  
  
"I swear," she replied, turning in his arms to glare at him. "Sometimes, I think that you and Tim were separated at birth." Luke pretended to be offended.  
  
"Oh, please," he laughed, tickling her sides a little. "I am so much more pretty than Tim is." Brooke smiled and shrugged her shoulders, turning back around to stare blankly at the wall across from them.  
  
"Tim maybe," she commented with a laugh. "But I stand firm on my opinion that Haley is hotter than you." Luke nodded even though Brooke couldn't see him and kissed the top of her head.  
  
"So, why were you thinking about Haley when we were making out?" he asked, trying to make it sounds as light as possible. He knew that Brooke was worried about Haley, he was too, but she was the last thing on his mind two minutes ago.  
  
"I'm just worried," she answered. She had called Peyton as soon as Haley left that morning, before Luke had come over, to tell her about the new developments. A part of her was so happy that Nathan hadn't asked Haley to move in with him, but the other part felt horrible at seeing her friend in all that pain.  
  
"What are you worried about?" Lucas still had no idea what was going on. All he knew was that something had come up and Nathan backed out of asking Haley to move in with him. He also knew that Brooke and Peyton had something to do with this and he was going to find out. "Nathan just got scared, that's all. They'll work this out and Haley will be fine. You'll see." Brooke let out a sigh and stood up, pacing the room. Luke watched her in confusion.  
  
"No, she won't be fine, Lucas," Brooke disagreed. Luke was starting to get worried as Brooke walked back and forth in front of him. Brooke Davis was never one to get nervous like this.  
  
"Brooke, calm down," he said, pushing himself so he was sitting on the edge of the couch, his elbows resting on his knees. Brooke stopped walking and looked at him as if he had two heads. "He made a mistake. I know Nathan, he will do anything to make it right again."  
  
"You don't understand," Brooke replied, shaking her head and began pacing again. She was trying really hard not to tell Luke what was going on, she knew he would only freak out, but she really needed to talk to someone about this.  
  
"Then explain it to me," he suggested. Before Brooke had a chance to even think about telling him, her phone rang. She stopped and stared at it, afraid to answer it encase it was bad news. Seeing that she wasn't making any move to answer the phone, Lucas grabbed it. "Hello?"  
  
"Hey, can I talk to Brooke?"  
  
"Yeah, one minute." He covered up the talking end of the phone and walked over to Brooke, handing it to her. "It's Peyton and she sounds upset." She nodded and took the phone, bringing it to her ear.  
  
"Hey, Pey," she greeted, trying to keep the nervousness out of her voice. She watched as Luke walked back over to the couch and sat down so he could watch her. She turned away from him slightly, not wanting him to be able to see her face. "What's up?"  
  
"Have you heard from Hales, yet?" she asked in a panicked voice. She had spent an hour searching for her friend, going to all the places she could think of, and there was no sign of her. She checked Haley's house, the Café, even Nate's apartment again, see was nowhere.  
  
"No," she sighed. She brought her hand up to her mouth and started to bite her nails, something she only did when she was scared or nervous. This did not go unnoticed by Lucas. "She was supposed to call me when she found something out. Have you seen her?"  
  
"Yeah," Peyton answered, plopping down on a bench just outside the Café. "I went over to Nathan's apartment to see if he was there. Haley answered the door."  
  
"They were there together?" Brooke asked. She shook her head, knowing that couldn't be true. If it were, then Haley wouldn't be missing right now.  
  
"No, I'm assuming Haley was there looking for him," Peyton answered. "She got some bad news and took off. I've looked everywhere for her and no luck yet. I'm stating to get worried." It took Brooke a moment to digest everything that Peyton had just told her.  
  
"Bad news?" she questioned. That got Luke's attention quick. He sat up in his seat and tried to listen to their conversation. She glanced at Luke and turned away from him further. "Did you tell her?"  
  
"I didn't have to." She knew Brooke was going to want an explanation, but she was not in the mood to give it right now. "Look, can you and Luke just start helping me look for her?"  
  
"Yeah, okay," she answered. She didn't like not knowing what was going on, but she was willing to wait to find out. "You call Jake and we'll call Tim and Lacy. They can help us look for her."  
  
"Don't bother," Peyton instructed her. "Nathan's probably with them. I'm sure they're all waiting for an important phone call." She didn't mean to sound bitter, but that's how it came out. She hated Nathan more than she thought it was possible to hate another human being right now and she just didn't have the strength to hide it.  
  
"What are you talking about?"  
  
"We don't have time for the long version," Peyton sighed, looking around her to see if anyone she knew might overhear her and spread it all over town. "So here's the short one; Lacy's pregnant, Nathan's the father and Haley knows about all of it."  
  
"What?" All the color on Brooke's face disappeared, leaving her looking ghost white. Peyton gave her a minute to recover. "Please tell me you're joking?"  
  
"I wish I was," Peyton answered. "The doctor called and thought she was Lacy and told her that Nathan was the father. Then to top it all off, I told her I knew about this all along and now she hates me."  
  
"I hate to say I told you so, but..."  
  
"I know, I know," Peyton stopped her. That was the last thing she needed. She felt horrible enough about all of this; she didn't need Brooke giving her a guilt trip.  
  
"Maybe I should just stay here," Brooke suggested, starting to get control of herself again. The thought of Haley alone and this upset was starting to scare her. "When she gets pissed at you or Nathan, she'll come here. I'm sure she'll be here any minute."  
  
"I wouldn't count on it," Peyton mumbled. Brooke heard the guilt in her voice and closed her eyes. She knew where this was going.  
  
"What did you do?" she whispered. She balled her hand up in a fist and placed in on the entertainment unit holding the television in place. Lucas was really starting to get worried and was debating whether he should go over to her or stay in his spot. Deciding he wanted to keep his balls firmly in place, he stayed seated on the couch.  
  
"I'm so sorry, Brooke," Peyton answered in a rush. "I didn't mean to, but I mentioned that you knew about it so she's pissed at you too."  
  
"What were you thinking?"  
  
"I wasn't," Peyton cried. She really didn't mean to tell on Brooke. "I was just so scared that she would never talk to me again, I let it slip. I'm so sorry, Brooke."  
  
"Thanks a lot, Pey," Brooke snapped. She slammed her fist into the wood and groaned. Before Peyton could say anything else, she spoke. "We'll start looking. I'll have Luke call you if we find anything."  
  
"Brooke..." She was too late; Brooke had already hung up. She sighed and hung up her phone as well. There was only one person left to call. She scrolled down until she reached her boyfriend's number and pressed connect.  
  
----OTH----  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Hey, babe," Peyton greeted. This time she didn't bother trying to hide the pain in her voice. She knew there was no point anyway, Jake would see right through it. Hearing the tone in her voice, he knew she was upset. He carefully put Jenny down in her bed to sleep.  
  
"Hey, sweetie," he replied. He switched the phone to his other shoulder and sat down in the chair. "What's wrong? You sound really upset."  
  
"God, Jake," she cried, finally letting the tears start again. "I'm such a horrible person and an even worse friend. I deserve to be shot."  
  
"You know that's not true," Jake assured her. He listened to her take a few deep breaths before she was able to continue. "Now, what are you talking about?"  
  
"I lied to Haley for a month," Peyton told him, wiping the tears off her cheek. It didn't do her much good, since they kept coming, but she continued to wipe them away anyway. "I knew something that she deserved to know, that I should have told her, but I didn't and now she hates me."  
  
"She does not," Jake told her, knowing that it couldn't be true. "You know that she could never hate you." He wasn't really sure what was going, but he had some sort of an idea.  
  
"I don't blame her," she continued, ignoring what Jake had told her. "She should hate me. I'm a terrible best friend, the worst ever."  
  
"Sweetie..."  
  
"Whatever," she cut him off. She knew he was just going to try to make her feel better and she didn't deserve it. She deserved to be miserable after what she had done. "Can you just help us look for her?"  
  
"I can't," he answered sadly. He knew that she was freaking out right now, but he couldn't do it. He looked over at the person sitting on the couch, listening to their conversation. "I have to watch Jenny."  
  
"You can bring her," Peyton suggested. She really needed him right now. She could always count on him to calm her down when she was panicked. He just had this sort of calm feeling to him. "Please?"  
  
"I can't," he repeated again, staring at the other person. He was more than a little uncomfortable right now. "I have company, I have to go. Love you." Without giving her a chance to say anything else, he hung up.  
  
"What'd she say?"  
  
"She worried about you," he answered, watching her lower her head and shift in her position. "She's really sorry about everything."  
  
"She should be,"Haley answered, standing up and walking over to where Jenny was sleeping. She looked down at her little face and she felt a thump form in her throat. It killed her to think that Nathan was going to have one of these with another woman. She wanted to have kids with him one day. Now that was never going to happen.  
  
-OTH-  
  
That's all. I know what you're thinking, 'We waited that long and that's all we get?'. I'm sorry that nothing exciting happened in this chapter, but they can't all be winners right. I had this typed up last night, but it didn't save so I had to redo it this morning and this is the best I can do. Anyway, please tell me what you think.


	21. Friendly Conversations and Daddy News

Author's Note: Hey, everyone. Thanks for waiting so nicely for this update. I'm back and I hope that I don't disappoint you. A huge thank you to all of you that have replied, and to those of you who haven't, get on it! Enjoy.  
  
**-OTH-**

"So, what exactly happened between you and Peyton?"  
  
After Haley had stormed out of Nathan's apartment, leaving Peyton by herself, she didn't know where to go. She didn't want to go home because she was afraid to be alone and she couldn't go to the Café because there would be too many people there. Normally, when she was this upset, the first person she went to was Brooke, but she was angry at Brooke right now so that was out, and she couldn't go to Lucas like she used to do because he was more than likely sucking face with Brooke. She really had no desire to see either Tim or Lacy right now, and figured Nathan was with them anyway, so that left one person, Jake. When Jake answered the door to find a crying Haley, he didn't know what to think, the first thing he asked was if Peyton was okay, and after getting an icy glare, he let her in. They had been sitting in silence for almost an hour already.  
  
"Oh, so you don't know?" Haley asked, feeling bad that she let some of her bitterness towards his girlfriend slip out. She wasn't mad at him, even if he did know, they weren't like best friends or anything.  
  
"No," he answered simply. "Not that I know of." He tried to think hard about the past month, trying to think of anything that was out of the ordinary. His thoughts immediately drifted to that night at the club, when Peyton first starting acting weird around Nathan and Haley.  
  
"Then you don't know." This was the kind of thing that you either knew all about or you had no idea. Jake definitely fell into the latter category it seemed. She shifted slightly in her seat on the couch and glanced over at Jake sitting in the chair.  
  
"She has been acting weird the last little while," he commented, reaching forward to take a gulp of his Coke he had opened before Haley got there. He offered her a drink but she said she wouldn't be able to keep it down.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"Just the general avoidance of Nathan," he explained, taking one more gulp and placing the can back on the table. He leaned back in his chair. "And she's been acting kind of weird around you too, like she's been snapping at you or something."  
  
"Yeah." Haley nodded her, glad that someone else had noticed that Peyton had been less than nice towards her the past month. She was starting to think she was going insane. "And I thought I was the only one that caught that."  
  
"I notice everything when it comes to Peyton," he answered. He looked down at his shirt and busied himself with a loose thread. Haley watched him, surprised that he looked nervous. She hadn't seen him this nervous since his first date with Peyton.  
  
"Attentive," she commented, with a slight smile. She didn't know when this conversation turned around on her and she became the one doing the comforting, but it was fine with her. She was used to comforting Lucas, Brooke, Peyton, and occasionally Nathan after a blow up with his parents. This was the role she was more comfortable playing. Plus, it helped to get her mind off the newly discovered drama in her life.  
  
"It's not just that," he finally answered. He wasn't sure if he should be talking about this, especially with his girlfriend's best friend, but he needed to talk about it with someone and the guys wouldn't be much help. Besides, this was Haley and she helped everyone. "It's just that...things between me and Peyton are going great, you know?"  
  
"Yeah," Haley answered, nodding her head. She knew how in love they were; it actually made her a little jealous. Even before she knew about Nathan's cheating ways, she was always envious of them; their relationship just seemed so easy, like they never had to work hard at things like she and Nathan had to. "She really loves you."  
  
"I love her too," he answered, with a sigh. "That's the problem." Haley raised an eyebrow at him, totally confused at what he was trying to say.  
  
"I may be smart, but I'm not a mind reader," she teased lightly. She pushed herself forward on the couch. "What are you talking about? If you guys are in love than where's the bad?"  
  
"This is exactly how things used to be with me and Jenny's mother," he explained. Haley's eyes widened, but she didn't say anything. Jake never talked about Jenny's mother, ever. Peyton didn't even know the girl's name, all she knew was that she ran out on them a few weeks after Jenny was born.  
  
"Oh," she breathed. She didn't know what to say, what she could say, so she just kept her mouth shut and let him explain.  
  
"Yeah." Maybe this wasn't such a good idea, but it was too late to back out now. Haley would torture him until he told her, so he should just get it over with. "When me and Nicki were together at first, things were just like this; we never fought, we were always kissing, and we always got along."  
  
"And then Jenny?" Jake sighed and shook his head.  
  
"It was before that," Jake answered. Ever since then he had tried to figure it out, when things started to go wrong or what he did to cause them, but he still didn't have an answer to give himself. "Even before she go pregnant, she just sort of started to drift away from me, you know? She started spending less time around me and started picking fights for no reason."  
  
"And you're afraid that Peyton is going to start doing that?" Haley asked. It did make some sense in her head, but in her heart she wanted to yell at Jake for being so stupid about all of this.  
  
"I don't know, maybe," he sighed. He pushed him up and walked over to Jenny's crib. "When Nicki left, I was devastated about losing her, but I felt even worse for Jenny because she would never have a mother." He reached down in the crib and pulled the blanket over Jenny's body. "Over the past year, Peyton's been like a mother to Jenny and I don't want her to have to lose two moms. I can't do that to her."  
  
"So, what exactly are you telling me?"  
  
"I've just been paying extra attention to the way Peyton acts," Jake explained, putting Jenny's favorite teddy bear beside her. If she woke up and it wasn't there, he would never hear the end of it. "So, if she starts acting the way Nicki was acting before she took off, then I can get out first. Save me and Jenny that kind of pain again."  
  
"Jake," Haley stated, getting his attention away from his daughter. He looked over at Haley was surprised to find an angry expression on her face. "Right now I am pissed off at Peyton beyond the point of being able to see straight, but she's still Peyton and I still love her." Jake nodded his head. "She's my best friend, Jake, and I swear to God, if you hurt her than I'll kill you."  
  
"I get it," he assured her, not wanting her to continue. Talking about his death was something he was comfortable with discussing. She shook her head.  
  
"I don't think you do," she disagreed. "Right now, after what I found out, I really feel like gouging my eyes out just so I don't have to look at Nathan's face ever again because no matter how much I hate him, every time I look into those deep blue eyes, I know I'm still going to love him. And that is the worst feeling in the world."  
  
"I know..."  
  
"And if you make Peyton feel even one tenth what I'm feeling now, I'll beat you to death with a shovel." His eyes widened and he looked at her in surprise. "A vague disclaimer is nobody's friend."  
  
"I'll remember that," he promised her. He had to smile at the protectiveness Haley was showing over Peyton even though she was mad at her right now, that just showed that there was hope for them yet.  
  
"Good," she said, smiling tightly at him. "So, you need to stop blaming Peyton for Nicki's mistakes. I know Peyton, maybe better than anyone, and she's not that kind of girl. She's not going to just up and leave you like that, she just doesn't have it in her." Jake nodded. He took one last look at Jenny before walking back over to his chair.  
  
"I thought you were here to talk about your problems," he teased, wanting to get the topic as far away from him and his untimely death. "How'd we get to me?"  
  
"No offense, Jake," she started, with a little laugh. "But I would never come to you with this kind of problem, nothing personal, but it's kind of a girl thing."  
  
"Then why'd you come here?"  
  
"Because I can't be alone," she admitted. "That's really what this is all about." She looked down at her hands that were resting in her lap. "I'm terrified of being alone. That's why I'm always at Nathan's apartment or Brooke's house or Peyton's house because I can't stand the thought of being by myself."  
  
"I didn't know," he spoke quietly. Haley smiled sadly at him and shrugged her shoulders.  
  
"Nobody does," she told him. She had to laugh at the situation because if she didn't she might go insane. "I guess you can blame it on my parents, I have all these abandonment issues. I just can't stand the thought of being left behind."  
  
"It's not a great feeling," he told her. He looked over and saw that she was starting to cry. He stood up and walked over to sit down beside her. He moved to put an arm around her, but she pulled away. He looked at her in surprise, confused at her actions.  
  
"I'm sorry," she whispered, wiping the tears away from her eyes. "It's just, I'm pissed off at Peyton and Nathan right now, and I can't trust myself around you. I'm afraid I might go for the whole revenge scenario and I'll only regret it." She looked at him, hoping that he would understand. "I just think it would be better if we didn't get to close."  
  
"Yeah," he agreed, getting up and moving back over to the chair. He tried not to feel hurt, she was just trying to do the responsible thing, but he still felt kind of rejected. They both sat in silence, neither knowing what to say.  
  
"I should probably go," Haley decided, slowly getting up from the couch. Jake quickly jumped to his feet.  
  
"You don't have to..." She laughed at him. He really was a good guy.  
  
"It's okay," she assured him with a smile. She moved to the door. "I should probably get to the Café for my shift anyway. Now you can go help Peyton and the others find me. I know she was mad you didn't go."  
  
"Yeah, she doesn't hide it well." They shared a laugh and Jake walked over to the door. He hesitated for a moment before bringing her into a hug. Even if she said didn't want it, he knew that she needed it. She didn't fight it and wrapped her arms around his neck.  
  
"Thank you," she whispered in his ear as she pulled back. He smiled at her, shaking his head to tell her that it wasn't any trouble. She poked him in the stomach. "You take good care of my Peyton, you hear, even if I can't stand the bitch at the moment."  
  
"I promise," he said, holding his stomach where Haley had hit him. He reached passed her and opened the door. "Bye, Hales."  
  
"Bye, Jake." With one last smile, she was out the door. When she heard the door close she let out a sigh. She didn't really feel a whole better, but at least she knew that she wouldn't hate Peyton forever. At that offered some kind of comfort. She shoved her hands in her pockets and walked down the driveway, going in the direction of the Café.  
  
**-OTH-**  
  
"I think I'm going to go insane," Tim exclaimed from his seat between Nathan and Lacy. They were all sitting on the couch in Lacy's house, waiting for the doctor's office to call.  
  
"Calm down, baby," Lacy said, patting him on the leg. She found his hand and squeezed it, trying to calm him down a little. She was trying to put up a brave front for Tim's benefit, but she was going just as crazy as him. She wanted Tim to be the father so badly, but in her heart, if she was willing to admit it, she already knew who the father was. She just had this horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach that told her that Nathan was the father of her child.  
  
"Calm down?" he repeated, not believing that she was actually telling him this. he knew that she was worried too, he knew her that well, and he did not like her telling him to do something that she wasn't doing herself. "I'm waiting to find out if I'm going to be a daddy or not. It's kind of hard to be calm."  
  
"Look at Nathan," she suggested, pointing to him. He was sitting silently at the other end of the couch. He hadn't said a word since they got there. "He's going through the same thing and he's not freaking out."  
  
"Cause I think he's in shock," Tim answered, giving his best friend a quick glance before turning back to Lacy. Tim didn't know how he felt about this. On one hand, he was in no way ready to be a father and if Nathan was the father, then he was off the hook. One the other hand, he was head over heels in love with Lacy and couldn't imagine not sharing this with her.  
  
"Shut up, dude," Nathan spoke up. Before either of them could say anything, the shrill call of the phone interrupted them. All three teenagers stared at the phone, none of them able to make a move to answer it. Seeing that neither boy was going to answer it, she reached over and picked it up.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Hello, is this Lacy Roberts?" the man asked, wanting to make sure that he had the right person this time. "It's Dr. Mitchell O'Neil from the free clinic."  
  
"Yes, this is her," she answered. She was surprised that she was able to talk without her voice cracking. "Did you get the test results back yet?"  
  
"Yes, we did," he answered, flipping through his papers. "We received them earlier today. We already called the father's apartment, but his girlfriend answered." Lacy closed her eyes. There was her answer. She wasn't surprised, she knew it all along. "I have to tell you that I told her. I thought she was you and now she knows everything. I'm sorry."  
  
"Well, it was going to come out sooner or later," she sighed. She really was not looking forward to having that conversation with Haley, but right now there were more pressing matters, like breaking two hearts. "Thank you, doctor." She hung up the phone slowly and took a deep breath before turning to face the guys.  
  
"So?" Tim asked. Her eyes locked with Nathan and she saw the realization come to his eyes. He didn't need to hear her say it, he already knew the moment she said she was pregnant that he was the father. He did horrible things and now he was paying for them. He nodded his head slightly and got up. Tim looked up at him in confusion and watched him walk to the door. "Hey, what's going on?"  
  
"I'm sorry, man," he told him. He opened the door and walked out without looking back at them. As soon as the door was closed he leaned his back against it and let out a sigh. He closed his eyes and ran a hand over his face. He only let himself stay there for a few moments before pushing himself off the door and walking down the driveway. He had a girl to see.  
  
**-OTH-**  
  
That's all for now. I hope you all are okay with what happened. I like to try and spread things out, not have everything cramped into one chapter. Please tell me what you think.


	22. Comfort Only a Mother Can Give

_Author's Note:_ Thanks to all of you who replied, it really means a lot to me. So please continue to reply. I hope you enjoy this update.

**--OTH--**

"Sweetie, can you get that table?"

After Haley had left Jake's house, she had wandered around a bit. She had told Jake that she needed to get to the Café to work her shift, but the truth was she wasn't working until five. She just needed to get some air. She needed time to think things over in her head. All the new information that she learned today still hadn't really entirely sunk in yet. After a half a hour of walking around, she decided that she needed to do something or she was going to go crazy. In the interest of staying sane, she headed over to the Café to start her shift early. She just hoped that none of her so called friends decided to swing by because she didn't know if she could handle seeing any of them right now.

"Yeah," Haley called to Karen, placing the saltshaker back on the counter and grabbing her order pad. She didn't recognize the people at the table, of which she was grateful. If she knew them, then she would have to make conversation, and she wasn't up for that.

Karen watched as Haley walked over to the table, her head down and took the people's order in a robotic fashion. She raised an eyebrow, finding it weird that Haley was acting so strange. Usually she was chatting up the customers, making new friends left and right. It seems today, she wasn't. When she saw that Haley was coming back, Karen quickly busied herself with the saltshaker that Haley had abandon moments ago.

"Here you go," Haley sighed, ripping the sheet off that had their orders and handed it to Karen. She didn't smile or anything. Karen was really starting to worry. It must be something really big if she didn't have the energy to even fake like she was happy.

"Thanks." Karen took the sheet out of her hands, without breaking eye contact and passed it to the waitress that was walking by. After making sure that the waitress gave the order to the new cook, she turned back to Haley. "What's wrong, honey?"

"Nothing," Haley sighed, plopping down on the stool that was right beside her. She knew that was a weak answer, but she knew that it was no use in trying to pretend that everything was okay. Karen knew her too well to fall of that. And a mother never stopped probing if there's something wrong with their child.

"Once more, with even less feeling," Karen teased, pushing the things on the counter aside so she could see Haley. Haley let out a huff of breath and leaned over on the cool surface, burying her head in her arms.

"Very funny."

"Come on, baby," Karen tried, ruffling Haley's hair. Haley pouted even though Karen couldn't see her and raised her head. The lame mask that she was wearing before had disappeared and Karen could see all the pain in Haley's usually bright eyes. "Tell mama Karen what's wrong."

"You know if I start, I won't be able to stop, right?" She wanted Karen to be prepared for what she was getting herself into. She knew that Karen loved her and would do anything to help her feel better, but Haley was on the verge of a full-blown breakdown and there was no way of stopping her once she started.

"I've always got time of my kids, you know that." Haley nodded and looked around at all the customers in the Café. There wasn't that many, maybe a totally of five tables were full and most were all regular customers.

"What about the customers?" Haley asked, flipping her hair over her shoulder, indicating that people behind her. "I have a table that I need to serve."

"Sheri can handle it," Karen said, flipping her hand in the general direction the other waitress was in. Haley looked over to see her talking to the table that she was supposed to be waiting on. "Come on, we'll go in the back."

"But-"

"Sheri?" Karen called out to the girl as she grabbed Haley's hand and started dragging her around the counter. Sheri turned away from the man she was talking to. "We're just gonna be in the back of a bit. Can you cover everything out here?"

"Yeah, sure." She could tell that something was wrong with Haley the moment she came in for work and she knew how close she and Karen were. If it meant that Haley would start acting like her regular self again, then she was more than willing to wait a couple extra tables.

"We'll try not to be long." Sheri waved her hand, telling them to take all the time they needed. Karen smiled gratefully at her and pulled Haley through the doors. Once they were in the back, Karen guided Haley over to the couch. "Now," she began, pushing Haley down on the couch before sitting down next to her. "Tell me what's wrong."

"It's Nathan," Haley started with a sigh. Karen nodded, mentally smacking herself in the forehead. Of course it was Nathan. The only other thing that could get Haley to act so un-Haley like would be something with her parents.

"Okay," Karen breathes, preparing for a girly talk. She was afraid she wouldn't be in shape for this, but she was going to try her best. She also had to take a breath in order to keep her emotions in check. She warned Nathan not to hut Haley. "So, what happened? Did you guys get in another fight?"

"Uh, no," Haley said, almost laughing at the thought. When was going on was so much more than a fight. She didn't even know if she would be able to look at him ever again, let alone actually speak to him. "Not yet, anyway."

"Oh, God," Karen gasped, a thought just entering her mind. Haley jumped at the outburst and quickly looked around the room for something that might be wrong.

"What?"

"Are you pregnant?" Haley's eyes widened at the mere thought of it. "Cause I thought I had enough of those talks with you and Lucas. I thought I got my message across pretty well." Karen continued to ramble, not bothering to look up and Haley to see the slight amusement in her eyes. "How could you be so stupid?"

"Hey!" she defended, holing up her hands. For a minute she was scared of the glare that Karen was sending her way, but soon relaxed when she remembered that she didn't do anything wrong. "Don't be calling me stupid."

"Well, you have to be to get pregnant at your age!"

"I'm not pregnant," Haley informed her, bringing the volume of her voice down a few notches. The door separating the backroom and the main area was thick but it wasn't soundproof. "I remain the Virgin Haley."

"Really?"

"I promise."

"Oh, thank God," Karen cheered, letting out a huge sigh of relief. All the muscles in her stomach unclenched and she could breath again. She was surprised at how worried and angry she could there. She really didn't have the right to be angry; she certainly wasn't one to talk.

"Good to know you think I'm that much of a slut," Haley teased, making sure to keep her voice light so Karen knew she was just joking. She actually found it kind of sweet that Karen got that angry at the thought, which just showed how much she cared.

"I'm sorry, sweetie," Karen laughed, laying her hand on Haley's knee. "It's just that you're acting really weird and you said that it was about Nathan. Plus, you said there would be lots of fights. Pregnancy was the first thing that came to mind."

Haley sighed and turned her head. She couldn't look at Karen whens he said it. She couldn't stand the thought of all the pity that she knew she would find in them. There was no feeling in the world that was worse than being pitied. But she needed to tell her because she needed to talk to somebody about this. Though, Jake was a great listener, he wasn't cut out for this kind of thing. What she needed was a good old-fashioned girl talk and since her two best friends turned out to be lying bitches, Karen was her only choice.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, you weren't completely wrong." When Karen didn't answer she turned to look at her face and was greeted with a confused expression.

"Wait, I'm confused," she confessed. Her forehead scrunched up in the way they do when people are confused. "I thought you said you weren't pregnant." Haley sighed, a little frustrated that Karen had figured at least some of it out. She realty didn't want to have to spell it out for her.

"I'm not," Haley said quietly, throwing a few quick glances Karen's way. She saw some of the confusion leave the older woman's face. "But Lacy is."

"Lacy?" Karen repeated, not seeing how all that involved her and Nathan. Haley let her eyes wander to the ground and nodded her head slowly. "But what does that have to do with Nath…Oh!"

"Yeah," Haley whispered, making sure to keep her eyes on the floor. She closed her eyes, trying her hardest to hold back the tears. Even though she knew it was a lost cause, she had to try. She hated crying in front of people, and she knew that Karen couldn't stand to see her cry.

"But isn't she Tim's girlfriend?" Karen asked, apparently still a few steps behind. Haley, not trusting her voice, simply nodded. "So, Nathan cheated on you with your friend and now she's pregnant with his child?" Haley couldn't help but flinch at the brutally honest way she was describing it. She let out a bitter laugh, pulling back and roughly wiping the tears away.

"Thanks, Kare," she snapped, sarcastically. "I knew I could count on you to cram those complex issues into a nutshell." Karen cursed herself, not believing she had been so insensitive. She was just so shocked over the new information that she had just received; she wasn't really paying attention to what was coming out of her mouth.

"Oh, baby," she cried, immediately reaching forward to bring Haley into her arms. "I'm so sorry. I can't believe I just did that. I usually have more tact than that."

"I know," Haley replied, letting herself be held in the first time in what felt like forever. Nathan usually held her, but she always thought of it as a mutual kind of thing, like he needed to be held just as much as she did. People always need some form of human contact, and Nathan was no different. "Your brain just wasn't functioning with your mouth. I've been there."

"I'm still sorry." She ran her fingers through Haley's hair, hoping that it would somehow magically make everything all right in her world. She used to do this all the time when Haley was little. Even when she was eight, her parents were leaving her alone. Of course at that time, they had to make sure she had a place to stay before completely taking off for a month, but it hurt her just the same.

"It's okay."

"So what are you going to do?" Karen asked softly. She wasn't sure if she should be asking that, but she knew Haley pretty well and she knew that Haley already had a plan all set out. She was not the type of person to let things take their course, everything was planned out carefully.

Before Haley had a chance to answer her, the door opened slightly and Sheri's head poked through the hole. She gave them both an apologetic smile, sorry that she interrupted.

"Sorry to interrupt," she began, watching as Haley slowly moved out of Karen's arms and sat up. "But Nathan's just came in and he's asking for you." Karen shot a concern look Haley's way, not sure how she was going to react to seeing him. She was about to tell Sheri to send him away, but Haley cut her off.

"Okay," she replied, wiping away the few remaining tears left on her face. "Tell him I'll be right out." Sheri nodded and disappeared, leaving them alone. Haley took a deep breath before standing up and fixing her shirt. She ran another hand over her face and turned to Karen. "How do I look? Can you tell I've been crying?"

"No," Karen answer quickly. "But are you sure it's the best idea to see him this soon? And what was he thinking coming here this soon? Does he want me to kill him?"

"I don't think he knows that I know," Haley informed her, running a hand over her hair to make sure that it wasn't messed up. She let out a bitter laugh as she thought over what she had just said. "God, when did this all get so complicated?"

"Life always is, sweetie," Karen told her, standing up. She pushed a few strains of hair out of Haley's face. "No matter how hard I tried to shield you and Luke from it, it always seemed to come up eventually." Haley nodded and look closed her eyes. "You don't have to see him, you know. I could go out there and yell at him and we can keep talking some more."

"No, it's okay," Haley decided. She loved Karen to death, she was her mother, and that's why she didn't' want to do this. You don't have this kind of conversation with your mother, no matter how cool she was. "I'll have face him sooner or later. And the sooner I get this done, the sooner I can move on."

"If you're sure."

"I am." She gave a solid nod to prove her point. Karen smiled sadly at her and kissed her on the forehead.

"I love you, baby," she told her as she pulled back. "Just as much as I love Luke and I will always be here for you. Even if you are pregnant." Haley had to laugh at her comment. "So if you want to talk, I'm always here."

"I love you, too." With one more hug, she walked to the door. Haley mustered up all her courage and self-control and pushed open the doors. The first thing she saw was Nathan standing on the other side of the counter, hands in pocket and mumbling something to himself. Haley assumed he was practicing what to say to her. After he didn't notice her, she cleared her throat and got his attention.

"Hey," he greeted, almost completely emotionless. The hollowness in his voice sent a chill up Haley's spin. She had never heard him like that before. Even after he found out about his parent's divorce, he always sounded sad or angry, something, but this was scary.

"Hey," she said back. It took all her self-control not to yell and scream at him for lying to her. She had to keep telling herself that she wanted to hear what Nathan had to say for himself before she went off on him. She really wanted to know how long this whole lying crap was going to go on. "What are you doing here?"

"I really need to talk to you," he answered. His eyes did that thing that drove Haley crazy. When they narrowed and sort of glazed over. It always happened when he was sorry or guilty about something.

"So talk." She stood there, arms crossed over her chest, waiting for his big confession. He looked behind him at all the customers and over at the counter where Karen was sending him death glares.

"Not here," he suggested, looking around again. Haley could tell that he was having trouble looking at her. Good, she thought, at least he was feeling somewhat bad for what he did. "Can we go to your place?" Haley looked over at Karen to see if it was okay. Knowing what she was asking, Karen nodded.

"Sure," she finally answered, turning back to Nathan. She reached behind her and undid her apron, taking it off and putting it on the closest stool. She waved at Karen before walking passed Nathan. "Let's go."

"Okay." He reached out to take her hand, like he always did. He needed to feel the comfort of his hand in hers, knowing that it could possibly be the last time. At the touch of his hand, Haley immediately pulled her arm away before he could grab hold of it.

"I can walk myself," Haley informed him as she glared at him. Nathan looked at her in surprise. "I don't need you." The words cut through Nathan like a knife. A part of him already knew that she wasn't going to forgive him, but there was still a little piece of him that wanted to believe that their love was strong enough to survive this. He shook his head, cursing himself for being so stupid. There was no way they could get out of this with their relationship in tact. It just wasn't a possibility. He just hoped they could still be friends.

**--OTH--**

That's all for now. Please, I'm begging you, drop me a reply to tell me what you think. I'm beginning to worry that you guys are losing interest. Don't worry, drama junkies, I have a whole new storyline to revile in future chapters. Anyway, thanks for reading.

Also, if you haven't already, you should check out my new fic, In Need of Saving. It's a darker one, but I think you might like it.


	23. The Whole Truth and Nothing But

_Author's Note:_ Hey, all. I'm sorry it's been so long, but I'm back for an update. I'm sorry in advance if it sucks, but please read anyway. Don't forget to reply. Thanks and enjoy.

**--OTH--**

"Okay, I think it's officially time to give up."

Peyton, Luke and Brooke had been searching for Haley for almost an hour before Jake finally caught up with them. Like promised, he didn't tell Peyton that Haley had come to see him and instead pretended to help look for her. Since Brooke was still pissed at Peyton for getting Haley mad at her, she suggested that they split up. Brooke and Luke would check the south end of town and Jake and Peyton would check the north end. Both teams had come up empty handed. Jake made sure to keep them all away from the Café, claiming that it would be too obvious of a spot for Haley to go. So, after two hours of play 'Finding Haley' they all meet up at the Rivercourt.

"So, I take it you guys didn't find her either?" Peyton asked, as she and Jake walked onto the court, hand in hand. Brooke and Luke were already waiting for them on the picnic table. Brooke sent Peyton a death glare.

"Oh no, we did," Brooke snapped, sliding off the top of the table. She straightens her shirt and looked up at the blonde. "Can't you see her? Or is your big fat mouth in the way?"

"That was a hot one," Peyton mumbled. She really didn't have time to deal with Brooke's little snips, especially when she knew that the other girl wasn't at full strength. When she really wanted to be, Brooke could be a real bitch, but right not she was just upset. She was worried about Haley and lashing out at Peyton for it.

"We looked all over," Luke answered. He still didn't know what was going on between the girls or why Haley was suddenly missing. Every time he asked Brooke about either thing, she just huffed and walked forward, ignoring his question. "Still no sign of her."

"We had zero luck too," Jake told them. They all meet at center court, neither girl looking at each other. Jake watched the lack interaction and signed. He had got a little luckier than Luke had today and got Peyton to explain the whole story. Everything was pretty much what he had suspected, except the pregnancy and Lacy's involvement of course.

"I'm really worried now," Peyton declared, earning her a 'duh' look from Brooke. Peyton rolled her eyes and looked at Luke. "You've known her the longest, had she ever done this sort of thing before? Just take off like this?"

"No," he answered, trying to think back to what she did when she was upset. "Well, the first time her parents left her alone, she got really upset and ran out of the playground. Me and Keith looked everywhere for her."

"Where did you finally find her?" Brooke asked. She couldn't believe that Luke had all this information and never said anything. When someone goes missing, and it's happened before, wouldn't he think it might be a little useful to share this little story with the rest of them?

"She was with my mom," he answered, leaning slightly away from Brooke. He knew that look, the 'I'm going to kill you' look. After all the times he's seen it, it still scared him. "My mom said that she had come running into the Café in tears."

"Really?" Brooke was finding that hard to believe. Haley was like a normal teenage girl, she cried on occasion, but it was never in front of someone. Come to think of it, she had never seen her start to cry, only walked in after the fact or in the middle of it.

"Well, she was nine," Lucas explained with a shrug. A look of disgust and hatred crossed both Peyton and Brooke's face. They absolutely despised Haley's parents for abandoning her all the time, and finding out that they starting doing when Haley was just nine, just adding fuel to the fire. "She loved my mom with a passion. I swear up until she was almost twelve she actually thought she was her mom."

"Look, that's really sweet and all," Peyton interrupted. She already felt horrible for Haley and everything she was going through, hearing about the drama with her parents was something she didn't need right now. "But right now we just need to focus on finding her."

"For once, I agree with big mouth over there," Brooke sighed. Peyton of course, once again, ignore the comment. There was no point in replying, she deserved Brooke's anger, and she knew that it wouldn't last long anyway. Brooke had the attention span of a fruit fly. Sooner or later she would get bored of being pissed. It was Haley she was worried about.

"What's the big deal anyway?" Lucas asked. He found the fact that they had actually formed a search party to look for Haley to be quiet humorous. Can anyone say overreacting? "I'm sure she's just at the Café or at home. She cool off and come talk to you when she's ready."

"It's more complicated then that," Peyton sighed. Before Luke could question her about it, Brooke's cell phone rang. Normally in an important situation like this, she would just ignore it, but thinking that it might be Haley, she pulled it out. Stepping away from the group she answered it.

"Hello?" she greeted. Her face turned stone cold when she realized who it was on the other end. "What the hell do you want? … And why would I do you any favors? … No, you listen to me, buddy … Okay, okay … I'm not doing this for you … I'll be right there." She hung up the phone and turned back to the group.

"Was that Haley?"

"Did it sound like I was talking to Haley?" Brooke snapped. She was really getting tired of Peyton talking to her. She stared down Peyton before walking up to Luke and giving him a quick kiss on the lips. "Bye, Broody."

"Bye?" he asked. "Where are you going?"

"Where I'm needed," she answered mysteriously giving him a sexy smile. She waved at Jake. "Bye to you too, Jakie-boy." She turned to Peyton and growled. "Big mouth."

"Love you too," Peyton muttered, as Brooke retreated to her car. Before she got into the car, she turned around and stuck her tongue out at Peyton's back. Knowing Brooke as well as she did, she smirked. "Right back at you."

"Sorry she's being such a bitch."

"Don't worry about it, I'm not," Peyton said, waving her arm in front of her face. "She's be talking to be tomorrow, it's Haley I'm worried about really."

"What's that about anyway?" Luke asked, as the trio started to walk over to the bench that Brooke and Lucas had been sitting on before. "Brooke wouldn't tell me what happened between the three of you."

"Now's really not the time," Peyton sighed, dialing her home number to see if their were any messages from Haley. Getting frustrated when the message bitch said that she had no messages, she groaned and slammed the phone shut. Luke watched her in amusement.

"Well, we're all sitting here waiting for Haley to show up," Luke pointed out with a laugh. He nudged Peyton lightly on the leg. "I'd say we have plenty of time to hear this story."

"Whatever," Peyton sighed, past the point of caring. She shook her head and jumped down to the grass. "I can't tell this story again, I'm going home to wait for Haley's call." She leaned down and gave Jake a kiss, nodded in Luke's direction and slowly stalked off.

"So, I guess I'm telling it," Jake sighed. He was the second last person to know all of this and he was left to tell Lucas about it. Great, thanks Peyton.

**--OTH--**

The entire walk to Haley's house was made in silence, as neither Nathan nor Haley wanted to start this conversation in the middle of the street. They entered the house and made their way into the living room. Haley ventures further in that Nathan as he opted to stay near the entrance to the room. He watched as she paced the length of the room, muttering something under her breath.

"You look really good," he blurted out. He didn't know why he said that, but he just needed to say something to stop her from walking back and forth. It was starting to make him dizzy. Just as planned, Haley immediately stopped her pacing and stared at him.

"What?"

"I just said that you…looked really good." He had never seen that much hatred in her eyes before, that much pain. She looked at him like he was a complete stranger that had just killed her puppy. He never would have thought that Haley could make him want to die with just one look.

"You saw me two days ago," she snapped at him. She couldn't look at his face, at least not at his eyes. She had always thought that his eyes were his greatest trait. There was just something about those deep blue ponds that always made her go weak in the knees. It was almost like he could look right through her and know exactly what she was feeling with just one glance. "I haven't chanced."

"You looked beautiful then too," he answered in a soft voice. Haley flinched at the sound of his voice, fighting the urge to run to him. He sounded like he did that night he came to her room after he collapsed on the basketball court. He just sounded so weak and lost, it made her want to do nothing but take him in her arms.

"I always do," she replied, apparently channeling the spirit of Brooke. She had to get this over with. She had to remind herself over and over what he was there to do and what she was going to do after that.

"Okay, Brooke." He leaned off the doorframe and moved further into the room. He actually found this easier with her throwing him death glares. He didn't know what he would do if she looked up at him with those questioning eyes. There was no way he would be able to tell her what was going on.

"Leave Brooke out of this," Haley hissed. She watched him walk into the room, eyeing her. He was probably making sure that she didn't throw something at him.

"Okay, can we just cut all the small talk," he suggested. "Because this is clearly getting us nowhere." He knew that she would be upset about last night, he blew her off, but he didn't understand why she was so pissed off. If anything, he figured she'd be hurt.

"Clearly," she wholeheartedly agreed. She sent him another look before sitting down in the nearest chair. Her eyes moved to the couch across from her, telling him to sit in it. Once he was seated, she leaned back. "So, what did you want to talk to me about?"

"Us."

"What about us?" She was going to make this as hard as possible for him. If he was going to trample all over her heart, then she was sure as hell going to make him feel bad about it.

"We just aren't working anymore," he stated. He wanted to make this as painless as possible for both of them. And he didn't want to have to bring Lacy into all of this. Over the last month, Lacy had become good friends with everyone, and he would hate for her to lose all her friends over his mistake. "I think it would be best if we called it quits."

"So you're breaking up with me?" she asked. She had to admit, she was a little surprise. Where was the big confession? She was under the impression he was bringing her here to tell her about everything and then beg her to take him back.

"I think it's for the best." He started to get up, moving towards the door. He couldn't sit there and watch her fall apart.

What the hell? This was not how this was supposed to go. She was supposed to be the one doing the dumping. She was supposed to be the one that broke his heart because he was the jackass that broke her's. Here he was, trying to play the martyr, pulling the 'what's best for both of us' card. Where did he get off pulling that kind of crap?

"Do you mind if I ask why?" There was no way he was leaving this house without telling her what was going on. Sure, she already knew everything that was going on, but she wanted to hear it from him not from some doctor. He stopped at the door, but didn't turn around.

He didn't want to do this. The very thought of saying it was enough to break his heart, but it had to be done. It was the only way to save everyone the pain of knowing the truth. As long as he got Tim and Lacy to go along with it, nobody would ever have to know. Least of all, Haley. He closed his eyes and bit his bottom lip.

"I just don't feel it anymore," he answered in a voice that held no emotion. He bare to turn around and look at Haley's face. If he did, he wouldn't see the devastated look he expected, but he would she the pissed off look that was there.

"So you're telling me that you just woke up one day and fell out of love with me?"

"Yes." Never in his life had one word hurt so much to say. He honestly thought that his heart was going to burst. But he had to do this. He couldn't play this game anymore, couldn't make Haley think that she was with a good guy. He wasn't a good guy, he never was, and she deserved so much better. She deserved someone that was loyal to her, that told her the truth, and that person wasn't him. He wished to God that he could be that guy, but he had his chance and he blew it.

When Haley didn't say anything after a minute, he figured that he better leave. He didn't want to stay here when he obviously wasn't wanted. He bowed his head and took a few steps forward before the sound of her voice brought him to a halt.

"So that's it?" she asked, the anger she was feeling beginning to show in her voice. She had given him his chance to come clean, and he didn't take it. He was seriously going to just dump her with that lame excuse without telling her everything. He slowly turned around, confused by the tone of her voice.

"What's it?"

"You're really just going to leave without telling me?"

"Telling you what?" He didn't like the sound of her voice or the look on her face. Suddenly, a very horrible feeling washed over him. She shook her head and let out a bitter laugh.

"I went to your apartment this morning to see if you were there," Haley began to explain. She had to admit that she got some kind of sick satisfaction from seeing the look of dread on her now ex-boyfriend's face. Nathan's face was drained of all color. "Your buddy from the clinic called, Dr. O'Neil."

"Haley…"

"Congratulations, you're gonna be a daddy." She didn't give him a chance to say anything as she quickly moved on. "Peyton told me what's been going on this last month. How you and everyone I thought loved me has been lying to me. It's really not the best feeling in the world."

"I never wanted to…"

"What?" Haley snapped. By the slight tremor in her voice, Nathan could tell the she was trying her best to hold back the tears. "Hurt me?" Nathan bowed his head, not being able to look her in the eyes and nodded.

"Yeah."

"So you decided to bring me here so you can tell me that you don't love me?"

"It seemed like the best thing to do," he answered in a low voice. "I knew how much it would hurt you if I told you the truth. I was just trying to spare you some of the pain."

"Oh, how very nice of you," Haley cried dramatically. She brought a hand over her heart. "I think I'm falling in love with you all over again."

"Look, I know that this wasn't the best idea, but…"

"Were you ever going to tell me?" she asked, her bravado fading and the hurt was now visible on her face. She saw that he was about to say something and interrupted him. "The truth would be nice, for once."

"Probably not," he answered truthfully. He wished that he had a better answer, a good one, but she asked for an honest answer and he gave it. "I really am sorry about everything and I wish that I could turn back time and fix all of this, but we both know that I can't. What's done is done, there's no going back."

"No there's not," she agreed. As much as she didn't want to believe him, she could tell that he was being honest. He nodded his head, getting that she wasn't going to stop him and turned to leave. "Nathan?"

"Yeah?"

"What you said before," she began, her voice creaking slightly. "About not loving me anymore … did you mean that?" He closed his eyes tightly, trying to hold back his own tears. He couldn't stand hearing all of that pain in her sweet voice. He knew that he couldn't turn around, not again. Of he did, there was no way he was going to be able to walk out that door.

"I've never meant anything less." Deciding that she was satisfied with that answer, he finally put his feet in motion and made it to the door. He paused for a second, wanting to memorize everything about this house before he left it, assuming that he'd never get to step foot in here again. Snapping out of his trance, he opened the door and stepped out.

The moment the door was closed, he could hear Haley's cries on the other side. He leaned his head against the door and listened. He wanted nothing more than to be able to go back in there and take her in his arms and rock her until she stopped crying. But that wasn't his job anymore. Even if it wasn't him, Haley needed someone to be with her, she was too emotional to be alone right now. He pulled out his cell and dialed the first person that came to mind.

"Hello?"

"It's me," he answered. He knew that he wasn't going to be getting a warm greeting from her. If it were actually possible, he thought she might hate him even more than Haley did.

"What the hell do you want?" came her icy reply. For a moment there, he was taken aback by the sheer amount of hatred that he heard in her voice.

"I need to ask you a favor."

"And why would I do you any favors?" He rolled his eyes. He really just needed to stop with the small talk; he was obviously horrible at it. He should just get to the point.

"Brooke, would you just listen to me for once?"

"No, you listen to me, buddy…"

"Haley needs you," he interrupted her. He of all people knew how she could get when she started on one of her rants. She could go on for hours. "We just broke things off and I'm afraid to leave her alone right now and I'm not…"

"Okay, okay."

"Thank you."

"I'm not doing this for you," she snapped, wanting to make sure that he knew just how much she despised him. She knew that there was a huge chance that Haley would kick her ass right out of her house, but she was willing to take that risk.

"Can you just come down here?"

"I'll be right there." Nathan pressed the disconnect button and dropped his phone into his pocket. He looked out at the road in front of him. This was it for him. As soon as he walked away from this house, there was no coming back. Sure, he could go back in there and crawl on his knees, begging for her forgiveness, but it wouldn't be right. He needed to let her go; she needed to find someone that would treat her right and not cheat and lie to her. It's like that old saying; if you love something, you let it go. There was no doubt in his mind that he loved her, and now he had to let her go.

He brought his hand to his face and rubbed his eyes, making sure that no one saw him crying. He shook his head, snapping out of his thoughts and pushed himself off the door, walking down the driveway and away from Haley. Maybe forever.

**--OTH--**

So you can all start sending in the hate replies now. I know that sucked ass, but that was the best I could do right now. I knew you all wanted an update and I wasn't sure when I'd get another chance to update so I took this one. I'm sorry if you were disappointed, but there it is. I promise that the next chapter will be better. In the mean time, please tell me what you thought.


	24. Screaming Matches With Surround Sound

_Author's Note:_ Thank you all so much for continuing to read this fic even though it's not looking to good of Naley at the moment. I can't promise you a completely happy ending, but I'll just have to go with the flow and she were it leads. Anyway, on with the chapter.

**-OTH-**

"What the hell are you still doing here?"

Brooke had been debating with herself the entire way there whether she should come or not. She knew that Haley didn't have any desire to see her after she completely lied to her face of an entire month, but she also knew that what Nathan said was right. It wasn't a secret that Haley didn't like to be alone, but no one ever said anything about it. Brooke or Peyton would always find some excuse to sleep over or have her come to their house for the night when her parents were gone. Haley especially didn't do alone well when she was upset. As much as Brooke trusted Haley and loved her, she was afraid of what Haley might do alone when she was this upset. So if keeping her save meant being bitched out and having things thrown at her, than Brooke would take it.

"I couldn't make myself leave," Nathan answered from his position on the porch steps. When he came back, he was just going to sit there for a couple minutes to sort through his thoughts, but it seemed that every time he tried to leave, his feet wouldn't work. He never should have come back, but it was like something was calling him to come back there. "I keep trying, but I can't leave her."

"Is this the part where I feel sorry for you?" Brooke spat out. She glared at Nathan when he looked up at her with watery eyes. She shook her head, not believing that he was doing this. He was looking up at her with those lost puppy dog eyes.

"No, Brooke…"

"Where I sit down and rub your back as you cry your cheating ass off!" She was beyond pissed at him right now. In fact, she couldn't be angrier if he was pretending he didn't care. Th fact that he was trying to get her to take pity on him was just beyond her comprehension.

"Brooke, that's not what's going on here," he tried to explain. He looked into her eyes and saw the rage in them. Okay, now was not the time for explanations. Now was the time for running.

"You are a real class act, you know that?" she hissed at him. She shook her head again. She hit him with her purse as she stomped past him. He flinched, brought a hand to the back of his head and turned around to look at her. "You're the bastard that broke her heart by cheating on her and getting another girl pregnant."

"You think I don't know…"

"And to top it off," she continues, completely ignoring his comment. "You get her two best friends to lie to her about it, so now she feels betrayed by everyone." He had enough. He knew that he deserved to be yelled at, but not for something that wasn't his fault.

"No, you know what, Brooke?" he yelled over her voice so she would listen to him this time. He jumped up and spun around to face her. She stopped and looked at him in surprise.

"What?"

"You are really one to talk," he shot at her. "I'm not the only one around here who betrayed her. If I'm not mistaken, you and Peyton both knew about what I did and you didn't tell her."

"Because we didn't want to hurt her," Brooke answered lamely. God, that sounded like the worst excuse she had ever heard now. What had she been thinking when she let Peyton talk her into not telling Haley? Nathan let out a bitter laugh.

"And look how well that turned out," he laughed; pointing towards the house Haley was in. "I've been listening to her sobbing for the past fifteen minutes, and I'll tell you, she's definitely hurt."

"Because you're a cheating ass hole!" Brooke screamed. She didn't mean to yell it that loudly, it just slipped out, but she regretted it. Not what she said, just how she said it. She was sure Haley heard her. She lowered her volume a couple notches. "I know what we did was wrong and very un-best friend like, but don't you dare even think for one second that the girl in there is crying over anything other than what you did to her."

"Oh, get over yourself, Brooke," he snapped. What she said made sense to him and he knew that it was true, but he wasn't just going to stand there and get yelled at by the local slut. He was really starting to think that staying around was a good idea. "You are just as responsible for her broken heart as I am."

"Shut up!" she screamed. Just the thought of knowing that she cause Haley any pain was enough to make her want to cry. And she knew he was right. She should have told Haley the second she found out. Then maybe she wouldn't be so upset.

"Oh, good come back," he shot back. He knew he was hitting it right on the button. He knew Brooke better than she thought he did. Brooke may act like a confident person, but she's not, she's just like everyone else. Most think that the most important thing in Brooke Davis' life was booze and boys, but the truth was it's her friends, and he knew that. If there was one thing he learned in the entire time he went out with Peyton, it was that Brooke really cared about people.

"I think you've done enough, don't you?" She needed to change the subject; she couldn't handle what he was about to say to her. The one thing that she couldn't stand was that she was a bad friend. She had let Peyton down so many times in the past, and she had promised herself that she wouldn't hurt Haley like that.

"You could say the same thing." Brooke's mouth turned into a straight line as she tried to keep her emotions in check. He smirked as he saw that Brooke was about to break down. He hated feeling this way, and when he did, he did his best to take everyone with him. "Looks like once again, Brooke Davis is a horrible best friend."

There it was. She had been thinking it over and over again in her head for the past month, but she refused to believe it. She kept telling herself that they were doing Haley a favor by not telling her, but they were - she was, just hurting her more. And for Nathan to call her a horrible best friend, was like her worst nightmare confirmed, other than Tim being her new step daddy, or course.

Brooke and Nathan stared each other down, neither willing to break eye contact first. Brooke slowly took two feet forward, walking down the steps. She stood directly in front of Nathan and slapped him as hard as she could. She wished she could say that she did it for herself, but she did that all for Haley. Someone needed to slap some sense into him and since Haley obviously wasn't going to do it, Brooke stepped up.

"If you ever come near Haley again…" Brooke's rant was cut short when she heard the door swing open behind her.

"What the hell is going on out here?" Haley asked, surprised to find Nathan and Brooke standing toe to toe. Brooke wiped around to and came face to face with a very angry Haley. Nathan on the other hand, knew better and kept his head down.

"I was just…" Nathan tried, but stopped when Haley glared daggers at him.

"Save it," she spat at him. He flinched a little at the harshness in her voice and bit his lower lip. She looked to Brooke for an answered, but changed her mind. She shook her head. "Nathan, just get the hell out of here and Brooke get your ass inside." Brooke didn't have to be told twice, she made a beeline for the door and stood behind Haley.

"Haley, I just wanted to say…"

"Nathan," Haley cut him off, her voice wavering a bit. She was finding it harder to keep her pissed off attitude when all she wanted to do was cry. He finally looked up and met her eyes. What he found there broke his heart. "Just go." He nodded and bowed his head. Shoving his hands back into his pockets, he turned on his heels and slowly walked down the driveway. It wasn't until Nathan disappeared around the corner, did Haley turn around to face Brooke.

"I'm sorry about that," Brooke began. Haley nodded and shut the door. Knowing that Brooke would follow, she walked passed her and back into the living room. She thought about sitting down, but she felt more like standing. She liked to pace when she was bitching people out.

"What are you doing here?" Brooke looked surprised, obviously expecting a verbal lashing from her friend. Ah, yes, this must be what most liked to call the calm before the storm.

"Nathan called me," she answered, eyeing Haley as she started to pace. That was more like it. Brooke knew what it meant when Haley paced, she was pissed and everyone better watch out. "He told me you guys broke up and that he didn't think you should be alone."

"So he called you?" Haley asked, stopping momentarily to raise an eyebrow at Brooke. Brooke shifted uncomfortably under her gaze. She hated when people looked at her like that, like that were examining her. Nothing made her feel more self-conscience. She was always afraid they'd find out there was nothing there.

"I guess he didn't get the memo that you hated me," Brooke joked, hoping to lighten the mood a little. Brooke stopped immediately when she saw the look on Haley's face. Not the time for jokes. "He knew I'd come, I guess."

"Why did you come?" Haley asked. She didn't mean for it to sound so harsh, she was genuinely curious. "I mean, if you knew I was pissed at you and didn't want to see you, why'd you come?"

"Cause you needed me," Brooke answered quietly. She knew she shouldn't have said it because Haley needed to vent and that was hard to do when someone is being really sweet to you. "You may not want me here, Hales, but you need me here." Haley came to a completely halt in her pacing and looked at Brooke.

"What are you talking about?" Brooke took a careful step forward. Haley suddenly realized what was going on and shook her head. "No, no. This is not how this is supposed to go. I'm supposed to be bitching and screaming at you."

"So bitch, scream. I deserve a whole lot more." Brooke closed her eyes as she realized what she was doing. She was doing the exact same thing that she got so mad at Nathan for doing. She was trying to make Haley feel sorry for her.

"You're damn right you do," Haley yelled. And now she's pacing. Deciding it would be best if she kept her mouth shut, Brooke just moved slightly so she was in front of the chair and sat down. She watched Haley walked back and forth in front of her. God, she was already dizzy. Maybe she should just look away. Hey, look, the floor! "What were you thinking, Brooke?" Uh oh. Was she supposed to answer that?

"I just didn't want you to get…"

"That was a rhetorical question!" Haley shouted. Guess not. Brooke nodded and looked back down at the floor.

"Sorry."

"I mean, I thought you were supposed to be my best friend…" Now she had to say something. Brooke's head shot up and a panicked look crossed her face. Her eyes widened.

"I am," she exclaimed, jumping out of her seat. This whole sitting and listening thing really wasn't going well. She was never good at that kind of thing. "God, Hales, I am. I know I shouldn't have kept this from you, I didn't want to, but Peyton begged me."

"Since when do you listen to what Peyton tells you to do?" Brooke had to admit that Haley had a good point. Brooke Davis was never one to follow orders, especially from Peyton. "Last time I checked, you have your own mind, as one tracked as it can be at times."

"Hey," Brooke sighed, eyeing Haley. If she didn't know any better she could swear she saw a little smile. "I resent that." Haley gave her a look and she smiled. "Okay, that's true, but I still resent it"

"I'm sure you do." Brooke smiled and stepped closer to Haley. When Haley didn't back away or stare a hole through her, Brooke continued.

"Look, Hales," she began, stepping in front of Haley. "If I could got back in time, I would tell you as soon as I found out, I swear."

"Or you could stop Nathan from doing it in the first place," Haley pointed out, with a smirk. Brooke giggled and nodded. Haley sighed. "It doesn't matter. I'm more pissed off at Peyton than I am at you, so…"

"Lucky me," Brooke cheered. She knew that she should probably be defending Peyton, trying to get Haley to see where she was coming from, but she was just so happy that Haley was forgiving her that she didn't want to ruin that. Haley also knew that Brooke was fighting the urge to say something about Peyton, but she was glad she didn't.

"I know I should still be yelling at you, but I just don't have the energy," Haley sighed, running a hand through her hair. Truth was, she was glad that Brooke came, she was dreading being alone tonight. "So, if it's okay with you, can we just skip to the end were you say you're sorry and I forgive you?"

"I'm sorry," Brooke answered quickly. She was more than happy to go with that plan. Haley laughed lightly, but Brooke could tell that the bad thoughts were starting to settle back in.

"I forgive you." As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Brooke lunged forward and brought her into a fierce bear hug. At first Haley was going to laugh at Brooke's actions, but the laugh came out more as a cry. She finally let herself go in Brooke's arms.

"It's okay," Brooke whispered, feeling Haley shake in her arms. She knew right away that the girl was crying. She brought her hand up and stroked Haley's hair in an attempt to calm her down. "Just let it out."

"Tigger, what did I do wrong?" she cried. She had been thinking it since the moment she found out about Nathan and Lacy. She had racked her brain trying to find out what she did to cause this. She had to be responsible in some way. This had to be her fault some how. "Was it… was I not good enough?"

"God no, baby," Brooke cried. She shook her head frantically, rubbing circles on Haley's back. "You are more than enough. You're the most amazing person I know, Nathan doesn't even deserve to breathe the same air as you." Haley shook her head and leaned back so she could look Brooke in the face.

"I must have done something," Haley cried. Brooke shook her head and tried to wipe away the tears with the pad of her thumb, but it was no use since the tears kept coming.

"Why on earth would you think that?" Brooke whispered. Haley shook her head and looked down at her trembling hands. She chewed on her bottom lip as it quivered. Brooke gently cupped her chin and brought her face up to look at her.

"People keep leaving me," Haley whispered, her voice so low that Brooke had to strain to hear her properly. She fought to get past the lump in her throat. "They always leave me. My parents, my brothers, my sisters, Peyton, Nathan… I just, there has to be something wrong with me."

"Baby, no," Brooke said in a firm voice. Or her best version of a firm voice. The things that Haley was saying, the way she was crying, she was finding it hard to even form words. Haley was her best friend and seeing her like this, hearing the uncertainty in her voice, it was making her insides contract. "There is nothing wrong with you. Nothing."

"There has to be," Haley protested. "It can't just be…" Her knees started to give way underneath her and she started to crumble to the ground. It was as if everything was going in slow motion as Brooke brought Haley back into her arms and guided her safely to the floor.

Out of all the time Brooke had known Haley and all the times she had seen he cry, she had never seen Haley like this before. It was as it hurt her too much to form words. Haley's breath was coming in short gasps and whimpers as she sobbed in Brooke's arms.

For her part, Brooke didn't know what to do. She had dealt with a crying Haley before on many occasions, but right now Haley was devastated. She didn't know what to say or what to do that would make Haley feel better. Nathan had left Haley as a broken shell of what she used to be. Her heart was shatter and scattered all over the place.

Brooke wanted more than anything to pick up all the pieces and put them back together for her best friend, but she knew she couldn't. There was no magic word or action that was going to make things better. All she could do was be there for Haley and wipe away her tears.

Unfortunately, she knew that wouldn't be enough.

**-OTH-**

Okay, another chapter done. I hope you all liked it. Please tell me what you think, if you have any favorite parts, stuff like that. I know you are all wondering if this is going to end up a Naley, but I can't tell you. I mean, I know exactly how I want it to end, but I'm not telling you. You'll just have to wait and see.

And onto my shameless pimping of other stories, if you guys haven't checked it out yet, please read my other Naley fic, 'In Need of Saving'. Thanks.

Don't forget to reply.


	25. Planning All Around

_Author's Note:_ Hey everyone. Thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter. I hope you guys continue to enjoy this fic and follow the gang as they head into another rough patch. Anyway, please enjoy.

**-OTH-**

"Come on, Hales. You have to face her sometime."

It's been a week since Nathan and Haley had called it quits and the only person that Haley was willing to see was Brooke and Lucas. Still, even after a seven day cooling off period, Haley hasn't seen or talked to Peyton. Her heart was telling her that Peyton was just trying to look out for her, but her head kept telling her over and over again that Peyton lied to her. And when everything was said and done, that's what it came down to; Peyton had betrayed her. She knew something that Haley absolutely needed to know, but she didn't tell her. And the blonde couldn't even use the excuse that she couldn't find the right time, she had a freaking month!

"You see, that's not true," Haley replied, shaking her head. She and Brooke were getting ready to go up to her parent's cabin for a few days; it was something that was planned at the beginning of the summer. "I could easily avoid her for the rest of my life."

"She's you're best friend," Brooke replied. "Other than me, of course." Haley shook her head and threw the last pair of jeans into her suitcase. She looked around her room, deciding that she had everything she needed.

"Not anymore."

"Okay, we both know that's a big lie," Brooke shot at her, sighing and flopping down on the bed. Haley lifted the huge suitcase off the bed and dropped in on the floor before plopping down beside Brooke. "You, Haley James, do not have it in you to stop caring about someone."

"I'll have you know," Haley began, kicking Brooke lightly in the shins. "That I can hate someone and love them all at the same time. It's like my super power or something." Brooke turned her head to look at Haley with questioning eyes.

"And how do you mange that?" Brooke didn't even know why they were having this conversation because whether Haley wanted to see Peyton or not, she was going to. Hell, she was going to be spending the whole weekend with her. Haley just didn't know that yet.

"Take my parents for example," Haley answered. The first thought that came to her mind when she mentioned anything about love or hate, as Nathan. She shook her head, wanting to get the image of his face out of her mind. "I mean, yeah, they're never here, but I still love them, I would be devastated if anything happened to them…"

"But you can't help but hate them for always leaving you alone," Brooke finished for her. Brooke nodded, understanding what Haley was saying. "Okay, so you win. You can love and hate at the same time." She turned her head away from Haley and looked back up at the ceiling. "Is that the way you feel about Peyton?"

"I think so," Haley answered with a sigh. "I don't know. I don't think I hate her, per say. I think it's more like I'm carrying a strong dislike for her at the moment." That was the thing she hated most about being mad at people. Nothing was more frustrating than not being able to hate someone.

"I see," Brooke sighed. She waited another moment before slowly rolled off the side of the bed. "Well, now that we've got you all packed, and a day early I might add, can we please go over to Luke's now?"

"God, you are so pathetic," Haley groaned as she followed her friend's movements and got off the bed. Brooke had been bothering her non stop to go over to Luke's house, claiming she hadn't gotten any alone time with him almost an entire week because she was here, playing fixer-upper. "You can't even wait another day?"

"Why wait when I can have him now?" Brooke smirked, shrugging her shoulders and skipping towards the door. Haley waited a moment, trying to remember how on earth they had convinced her into still going on this trip. God, and entire weekend alone with Brooke and Lucas, that would be bundles of fun. She groaned again and started after Brooke.

"Have I told you yet how much I'm going to enjoy being the third wheel all weekend?" she asked as she descended the stairs to find Brooke already waiting impatiently at the front door. She noticed right away when Brooke flinched. She stopped in the middle of the stairs. "What was that?"

"What was what?" Brooke asked, telling herself over and over in her head to keep cool. This plan was never going to work if she opened her big mouth. Then again, she was never good at keeping her mouth shut.

"That thing you did when I said I was going to be the third wheel," Haley explained, knowing full and well that Brooke knew exactly what she was talking about. She moved down the rest of the steps and walked over to meet Brooke at the door.

"What thing?" Brooke was not good under pressure. And with Haley's intense stare, she was sure to crumble. "Seriously, Hales, I have no idea what you're talking about."

"What are you up to?" Haley took a single step forward, so that she and Brooke were not more than and inch apart. She watched the emotions play on Brooke's face. She smiled slightly, glad that she was at least intimating to someone. Finally Brooke cracked and let out a puff of air.

"Okay, okay," she surrendered, holding her hands up in the air. "It's not just going to be the three of us like I told you." Haley's eyes widened at her confession.

"What?" Brooke frowned and slumped her shoulders. Lucas was going to be so mad at her for not being able to keep this a secret. She found the anger in Haley's eyes at be very nerve wracking and quickly looked away.

"Peyton, Jake, Tim and Lacy are coming up to," she explained in a rush. Before Haley could yell, she continued on. "I'm sorry, but we planned this at the beginning of the summer. I promised them they could go. What was I supposed to do?"

"Oh, I don't know, how about you say no!" Haley snapped. Suddenly, this bad weekend was turning into an absolutely horrible one. "I can't believe this. How could you not tell me, Tigger?"

"Cause we knew that you'd never come if you knew they were going to be there, too," Brooke answered. She should have known that this wasn't going to work. Even if she didn't tell her now, as soon as Haley saw their cars pulling up to the cabin, she would have lost it. And no one could hear their screams in the woods.

"Of course I wouldn't have come," Haley exclaimed. She shook her head and started to turn around. "Okay, so you guys have fun and call me when you get back." Brooke reached out and grabbed her arm, spinning her around and holding her in place.

"Hales, you're coming," she stated. There was no way she was staying locked up in her house for one more day. She was starting to get worried about Haley's lack of a social life and she made it her mission to fix that. "There is no way that I'm letting you stay here all by yourself."

"I'll go stay over with Karen," Haley informed her. There was not one bone in her body that wanted to go to that cabin, but the part she hated the most was knowing that she would go. Brooke could always talk her into doing anything.

"She wouldn't let you stay," Brooke said, nixing that idea. She was in on it too; she loved Haley too much to see her in all this pain. She figured that getting her out of the house and made up with her friends was the best way to do that.

"She's in on it too?" Haley asked in disbelieve. Yep, she was definitely going now. The only thing she could do now was making their vacation just as miserable as her is. "This is going to be the weekend from hell."

"No, it won't," Brooke insisted, pulling Haley into a hug. "Everything will be perfectly fine. You don't even have to talk to Peyton if you don't want to. You know that she won't come to you. She'll wait for you to come to her." Haley shook her head and pulled back.

"It's not just that," Haley sighed. She looked down at the ground and slipped her feet into the shoes that Brooke had picked out for her. "I don't mind seeing Jake and Tim. God, I'm even semi cool with seeing Peyton, but just the thought of seeing Lacy…"

"Oh," was all Brooke could say. She had never really thought about that. She was focusing all of her energy on getting Haley and Peyton back together.

"She's having his baby, Tigger," Haley pointed out. Even now, after a week to digest the information, saying those words was like a knife to her heart. "I know it's not her fault, she didn't know, but how am I supposed to eat dinner at the same table as her?"

"I don't know." Brooke saw that Haley was starting to get upset and pulled her back into a hug. She rubbed her hand up and down Haley's back. Deciding that she didn't want to have a break down right now, Haley pulled back after a few moments and wiped at her eyes.

"How'd she get invited anyway?" she asked, hoping she didn't sound too bitter about the whole thing. "She wasn't around when we planned this little trip."

"Tim asked if she could come too," Brooke explained, looking at Haley with nothing but sympathy in her eyes. Haley found that to be quite annoying. There wasn't anything she hated more than being pitied. "We had room for one extra person. She took Nathan's place."

"Well, in that case," Haley smirked, realizing that things could be worse. "Lacy's more than welcome to come. She can even share a bed with me if she wants."

"I think Tim might have something to say about that," Brooke laughed, surprised at Haley's sudden change in attitude. Then again, she couldn't blame her. She couldn't even begin to imagine what things would be like if Nathan came on the trip.

"Oh, please," Haley huffed; waving her hand like it was nothing. "Are you kidding me? You know how Tim gets if I even mention sharing a bed with you. I really don't see him having a problem with me and Lacy sleeping together." Brooke laughed again and nodded her head.

"You do have a point," she concluded with a smile. She was so glad to see Haley joking about something. Even though she knew that Haley was still hurting over everything that happened with Nathan, she was just thankful that Haley could at least crack a smile.

"I always do," Haley added. She honestly couldn't believe that she was agreeing to this, but like Brooke said, she would have to face Peyton eventually and the same thing applied to Lacy. Besides, it sure beat hiding out in her room all weekend.

"How could I forget?"

"So, what do you say we get going, huh?" she suggested, smiling as the smile on Brooke's face widened. "I know how much you've been dying to have your Lucas smoochies."

"You read my mind, Tutor Girl." Haley laughed at the name; it had been ages since Brooke had called her that. Haley opened the door and they stepped out into the morning sun. Brooke draped her arm around Haley's shoulder and pulled her closer as they began to walk down the driveway. "Are you sure you're okay with this? Cause I'm not going to make you go if you aren't comfortable."

"I'll be okay," Haley assured her. She didn't know if that was true or not, but she was going to try her best to make it true. She had been looking forward to this trip all summer and she was not going to let Nathan screw it up for her.

"You sure?" Brooke was afraid that Haley wasn't really okay with this and was just going because she felt forced to. She would never forgive herself if Haley went and ended up getting hurt because of her.

"Positive," Haley nodded. Brooke nodded and dropped her arm, linking it through Haley's. Haley smiled at her and they continued their walk to Luke's house. Maybe this weekend wouldn't be as bad as she thought.

**-OTH-**

"So, what are you guys doing this weekend?"

Tim and Lacy hadn't really talked to any of the gang since they found out the news about the father. Lacy had considered lying to him, telling Tim that he was father, but she saw what lying did to relationships and decided that honesty was the best policy. They had been hanging out with Nathan a lot the past week, so they could discuss what was going to happen with the baby situation.

"We're supposed to be going up to Brooke's cabin this weekend," Tim answered as he picked up a French fry. He, Lacy and Nathan were currently eating lunch at a nice little restaurant just outside of town. They knew that Nathan and Haley had broken up, but they didn't know that Nathan had done the dumping; they had just assumed it was Haley that kicked him to the curb.

"Oh, they're still doing that?" Nathan asked, a little disappointment filling his voice. He remembered when they first decided to go up there, Haley had been so excited about spending the weekend up there alone with him.

"Yeah," Lacy replied softly. Even though Nathan brought this on him self, he couldn't help but feel a little bad for the guy. Not only had he lost his girlfriend, but his friends were leaving him behind too. "But I don't think we're gonna go."

"Why not?"

"For one, it'll be kind of awkward," Lacy explained, watching as Tim stuffed his mouth with more fries. Nathan nodded. "What with me having your baby and all."

"I guess I can see that," he answered. He noticed Lacy's hand rubbing her stomach. "But I bet this weekend would be a blast. Besides, I doubt Haley will even go. Last I heard, she isn't talking to Peyton." Lacy shrugged.

"It still doesn't seem right," she answered. She placed her fork back on her plate and began to stand up. "I'm going go to the ladies' room. I'll be right back."

"Don't fall in," Tim called out, once he was finished chewing his food. Lacy laughed and shook her head before disappearing behind the corner. Once Nathan was sure that Lacy was gone, he leaned forward in his chair.

"So you guys really aren't going?"

"Doesn't look like it." Tim reached forward and grabbed his glass, taking a huge sip of his Coke. He noticed Nathan staring at him strangely. "What?"

"I just think it's a waste," he answered. He found it totally unfair that he wasn't invited to go anymore. Brooke had planned this thing months ago; she shouldn't be allowed to back out like that. She couldn't just uninvited him. "I know if I had the chance to go, I certainly wouldn't turn it down."

"I know, but with everything that happened…"

"But sadly I got screwed out of my spot," Nathan sighed, putting on his best wounded puppy dog face. Tim, not realizing that Nathan was playing him, stopped sipping his drink. Nathan smirked internally as Tim's eyes lit up.

"With me and Lacy not going, there's room for two people," Tim suggested. Nathan nodded his head, playing along with him. "Why don't you take our place?"

"You think?" Nathan asked, not wanting to seem too eager. Tim nodded as Nathan shook his head. "No, I couldn't."

"Why not?" Tim asked. "Like you said, I'm sure Haley won't be going so there's no reason for you not to go."

"I guess…"

"Go," Tim insisted, practically pushing Nathan away from the table. "Call some girl to go with you and have fun for us." Deciding he better leave before Tim came to his senses, Nathan nodded and got up, pulling out his cell phone.

"Okay," he said quickly, slipping out of the booth. He searched through his pockets for some money and dropped in on the table for his part of the check. "Don't bother calling Brooke, I'll tell her that you guys can't make it when I phone to ask if I should bring anything."

"Thanks, man," Tim smiled like an idiot. Nathan couldn't believe that Tim could possibly be so stupid. Nathan waved and started to walk away. "Have fun!"

Nathan stepped out of the restaurant and searched for the number of the girl he had meet the other night at some bar. She was hot and willing so Nathan didn't hesitate. They had seen each other a couple times since. Nathan wasn't looking for a serious relationship and neither was she so they were both happy with open relationship they had.

He found her number and pressed send. After two rings she picked up.

"Hello?" He smiled at the sexy husk in her voice. There was just something about her that screamed sex. He could tell just by looking at her that she gets around and that was actually what drew him to her in the first place.

"Hey, Nicki," he greeted. "What are you doing this weekend?"

**-OTH-**

That's all for now. I hope you guys liked it. Please, tell me what you think and I'll update faster. Peace.


	26. That Little Bastard

_Author's Note:_ Hey. I'm so sorry that it's taken me so long to update this. I'm not even sure if anyone is even still reading this, but since I have the entire thing done and posted elsewhere, I'll just finish the rest of this and start posting what I have done of the sequel. I think there's about 10 more chapters to this, maybe more. Hopefully, I won't forget to post the rest of it later on. Relpy and tell me what you think. Thanks.

**...OTH...**

"Now, aren't you glad you agreed to come?"

Ever since Brooke had told Haley about the rest of the gang joining them on their little weekend away, Haley had changed her mind about going at least ten times. At the rate she was going, Brooke figured they'd get half way up there before Haley changed her mind and turned them around. In fact, not five minutes before they piled into the car, Haley officially decided that she wasn't going. After much arguing and begging, Brooke finally got her in the car when she threatened she wouldn't go unless Haley went. Just like she expected, Haley caved at the very thought of depriving her friend of fun, and got into the car. Three hours, a tank of gas, and four bathroom stops later, Lucas was pulling the car into the driveway of the Davis' cabin.

"Oh, yeah," Haley mumbled, gathering all her garbage from the backseat and sliding out of the car. The first thing she did was stretch out her legs and arms. "I really enjoyed getting in and out of the ridiculously tiny car every twenty minutes."

"I told you we should have taken my car," Lucas replied, popping the trunk and moving to get all the bags out of it. Brooke glared at him and stuck out her tongue. Haley rolled her eyes, not believing that she was being so juvenile.

"I swear to God, Lucas," Brooke began, forgetting about Haley and moving around to the back of her car. "If you say on more thing about your damn car, I'm gonna…"

"You're gonna what?" he asked with a laugh. He shook his head in amusement at the pissed off look on his girlfriend's face. Yeah, he was really scared of what she was going to do to him. "Shriek like a banshee until I'm forced to kiss you just to shut you up?" He chuckled and grabbed a bag.

"No," she stated, glaring at him. A smile graced her lips as she watched Lucas walking towards the front door of the cabin. "I'm not gonna put out!" He immediately stopped his movements. He dropped his bag and slowly turned around.

"Well," Haley began, looking back and forth between her best friends. She shook her head and rolled her eyes. "This is going to be a fun trip." She moved to the back, pushing Brooke out of the way and grabbed her bags, before walking past Lucas and into the cabin.

"It certainly will be," Brooke mumbled, reaching in to grab the last bag and slamming the trunk shut. As she walked pasted Lucas, she made sure to smile sweetly in his direction before joining Haley in the cabin. It took Luke a second to gather his strength before he picked up his bag and stomped up the steps to the front door.

"I'm sorry, Cheery," he sighed, walking over to her and wrapping his arms around her waist. Brooke sent a victorious smile in Haley's direction and snuggled into Luke's embrace. "Will you forgive me?"

"What do you say?" Brooke loved this part. She honestly couldn't believe how wiped Lucas was. She had him wrapped around her perfectly manicured finger and planned on taking full advance of that this weekend. Lucas groaned.

"Volk Wagons kick ass," he mumbled. He didn't understand why Brooke was so obsessed with her car. She acted like it was the second coming or something. Haley watched the exchange in amusement. She too couldn't believe how wiped Luke was.

"And?"

"SUVs lick ass," he finished. Brooke cheered and clapped her hands together. She knew how much it bothered Luke to talk about his precious SUV like that. He had saved his money from the garage and the Café for two years to but that damn truck.

"You're forgiven, Broody." Brooke turned around in his arms and reached up to give him a kiss. They pulled apart when they heard Haley making gagging noises behind them.

"I thought we agreed that this was going to be a PDA free weekend?" she commented with an annoyed look. She knew that she was being unfair and a part of her actually felt bad about making them separate, but the last thing she needed was to watch the happy couple in love. She used to be like that.

"You did?" Luke whined in a baby voice. He felt bad for Haley, he really did, but nobody came between him and his loving. Brooke gave him an apologetic look and nodded her head.

"It was one of the conditions of getting Haley to come up here," Brooke explained. She caught the death glare Haley was sending her way. She was confused for a minute before realizing why Haley was still annoyed. "Oh." She pulled out of Luke's arms and stood beside him, not even looking at him.

"Thank you," Haley answered tightly. She saw how upset both Luke and Brooke were that they couldn't touch and she smiled. Maybe she wouldn't be as guilty about it as she thought. Hey, if she was going to be miserable, they were going to be too. It's a proven fact that misery loved company. "Hello, company."

"Huh?"

"Nothing," she replied. She looked around the huge cabin and moved toward the hallway. "So, where's my room?" Brooke snapped into action and moved to join her. She linked her arm through Haley's and started showing her around. Luke mumbled something under his breath before following after them.

"Here we are," Brooke announced when they reached the bedrooms. She pointed to the one furthest down. "That will be yours, and we'll take the one beside it. There's a combining door so if you feel the sudden need to have company in the middle of the night, we can have a threesome." Haley and Luke shared disgusted looks that Brooke didn't notice.

"I really don't see that happening." Brooke rolled her eyes and waved her off. Choosing not to make a conceding comment, she continued.

"Those are the other two bedrooms." She pointed to the rooms directly across the hall for theirs.

"This cabin has four bedrooms?" Haley asked in awe. Brooke nodded her head as if it were nothing. Haley looked at Lucas to make sure she wasn't the only one that found that surprising. He two had an impressed look on his face. "My house don't even have four bedrooms and I have six siblings." Brooke shrugged her shoulders.

"Well, you can decided who's getting the bedroom across from yours," Brooke informed her. "You can either wake up in morning to Peyton or Lacy. It's your choice." Haley made a face and sighed.

"I guess Peyton's the lesser of two evils," she sighed. She still couldn't believe that she let Brooke talk her into to coming. She was not looking forward to a weekend full of Peyton fun. Brooke smiled, telling Haley that she thought she picked the right one, and moved towards her and Luke's room. Once Brooke was in the room, Lucas moved to Haley and rubbed her back.

"Everything will be okay," he assured her, dropping a light kiss in her head. He was probably the only one that could she through her brave front. Or he was the only one that called her on it. She nodded her and gave him a quick hug.

"Thanks, Scott." He nodded and they went into their separate rooms. Ten minutes later, they were all unpacked and immerged from their rooms. Deciding that it was time for lunch, they headed into the kitchen. Using her power of Luke, Brooke convinced him to start cooking while she and Haley relaxed in the living room. Haley was trying her best to enjoy the little time she had left until the others got there. They were told to come around four.

"So?" Brooke asked, stretching out on the couch and laying her legs in Haley's lap as she took a sip from her drink. "What do you think so far?" Haley shrugged and took a sip herself.

"I don't know," she answered. She didn't know why, but she had a feeling that this weekend was going to turn out even worse than she originally thought. She glanced back at Lucas in the kitchen with his 'Kiss the Cook' apron on and laughed.

"What's wrong?" Brooke asked. She knew that there was something else bothering her then just seeing Peyton and Lacy because if worse came to worse, she could just completely ignore them. No, Haley had something else on her mind and Brooke had a feeling it had something to do with Nathan.

"Nothing, it's just…" Haley saw the stern look on Brooke's face and crumbled. There was no use lying to her, Brooke would no doubt torture her until she told her the truth and she might as will get it over with, preferably with no blood shed. "I mean, I can take being the third wheel, it's been that way for the whole week, but now I'll be the…" She trailed off as she counted all the people. Brooke waited patiently for her to continue. "Now I'll be the seventh wheel. That's like the saddest wheel!"

"No, it's not," Brooke tried to tell her. She did understand were Haley was coming from. It was sure to get tiring, watching everyone make gooey eyes at each other. "Tim used to be the seventh wheel." Haley looked at her with wide eyes. She huffed and threw her arms in the air.

"So now I'm Tim?" Brooke closed her eyes and flinched. Yeah, that probably wasn't the best thing to say to her. It really sounded better in her head.

"Hales, I didn't mean it like…"

"Now I have to go around drooling after all the girls," she continued to rant. "I have to make sick jokes and send not so slick glances at your chest!" Brooke had to suppress her laughter. She knew Haley was mad, but she couldn't not laugh at someone making fun of Tim. It was her favorite pastime.

"Come on," she tried. Haley sighed and slumped back into the couch.

"When did I become the token perverted guy?" Brooke laughed and leaned over.

"Aw, Hales, you're not the token perverted guy," she assured, gentle running her hands through Haley hair. Haley nodded slightly.

"Thanks."

"You're the token pervert girl." Haley's mouth dropped open and she playfully hit Brooke.

"Tigger," she whined. She tried to look mad, but couldn't stop a giggle coming through. Brooke smiled at her, giving her what she hoped was an innocent look.

"I'm sorry." Haley nodded.

"Do I need to remind you that Tim has a girlfriend?" Haley asked, apparently going back to the 'she is Tim' thing. Brooke opened her mouth to say something, but thought better of it. "Tim! Tim Smith has a girlfriend and I'm alone. If that is not the sign of the Apocalypse, than I don't know what is."

"That's a little harsh," Brooke laughed. Haley sent her a glare. "It's true, but still a little harsh." Haley pouted and crossed her arms over her chest. She knew she was being a baby, but she didn't care. It helped distract her from thinking about Nathan. She looked over at Brooke and her eyes softened. She leaned against Brooke and laid her head on the cheerleader's shoulder.

"I'm lonely," she admitted in a tiny voice. Brooke closed her eyes at the sound. Nothing made her feel worse than a sad Haley. She reached around and wrapped her arms around Haley. "And dateless."

"Not any more," Brooke told her, tightening her hold on her best friend. "I'm officially declaring myself your date for this weekend." Haley let out a light laugh and shook her head.

"You don't have to do that."

"I want to," Brooke assured her. It was true, she was looking forward to a weekend with Luke, but she would never be able to enjoy herself if she was thinking about Haley being lonely. "Besides, Luke still needs to pay for dissing my car. The whole kick ass/lick ass thing didn't do it for me this time."

"I really don't think Lucas will be happy about this," Haley commented. She was pretty sure that this arrangement would last about two hours before Brooke got too horny and went in search of her boyfriend, but the thought was nice.

"He'll get over it," Brooke replied, obviously not worried about it. She knew that Luke would be upset at first, but after she told him how Haley felt, he would understand. "And if he's that upset, I'll just have to make it up to him when we get home."

"Lunch is ready!" Lucas called from the kitchen. Brooke glanced at Haley to make sure she was ready. Haley took a deep breath and nodded. They stood up and made their way into the kitchen. Haley looked at all the food laid out on the table and gave Luke an impressed grin.

"Everything looks great," she told him. She knew Lucas was a great cook, his mother did own a Café after all, but it still impressed her every time she saw him in action.

"Well, thank you, little lady." Nothing made him happier than getting complaints, especially about something that not a lot of people knew he could do. Haley laughed and Brooke rolled her eyes. Before Haley could sit down, Brooke quickly pulled out her chair for her. Haley looked at her strangely before taking a seat. Brooke struggled to push it back in.

"That's really not needed," Haley told her, finding it funny that Brooke was being so serious about this date thing. Brooke shook her head as she took her seat beside Haley.

"You are my date," she reminded her. "I was taught it was polite to pull out your dates chair for them." Lucas grabbed a few wine coolers and sat at the table, giving each girl one.

"I thought I was your date?" he asked. He wasted no time as he quickly began inhaling his food. He was not one to toot his own horn, but he really was one hell of a cook.

"Change of plans," Brooke told him. She was taking a more subtle approach; she was actually chewing her food. "It occurred to me that my little Haley here didn't have a date, so I took it upon myself to be her date for the weekend."

"What about me?" he asked, taking a short break from eating to sip his drink. "I don't have a date now."

"Poor baby," she teased. She gave him a look that told him not to complain about this. If there was one thing Haley hated, it was upsetting people. She would never do anything if it would make Lucas mad. Luke glanced at Haley who was too busy eating her food to listen to them. He looked back and Brooke and gave her a small smile, nodding his head.

"Why couldn't you of at least volunteered me to be her date?" Brooke gave him a thankful smile, before laughing.

"Because there's a slightly less chance of me having sex with her." Haley rolled her eyes. Maybe she wasn't the token perverted girl; that was definitely Brooke's job. "I'm not saying it's not a possibility, just less of a one than if you two shared a bed."

The rest of lunch went by without a hitch and they proceeded to go watch a movie until the others arrived. They were half way through the movie when they heard a car pull up. Brooke immediately saw Haley stiffen. Knowing that Haley wasn't going to want to see anyone yet, she volunteered to go greet them, while Luke kept Haley company. Brooke hopped off the couch and jogged to the door. She was half way down the steps when she finally realized whose car it was. She stopped in her tracks when she saw Nathan and some skanky brunette get out of the car.

"Hey, Brooke," Nathan greeted her with a cocky smirk. He reached back into his car and popped the trunk so he and Nicki could get their bags. He looked up at the huge cabin. "This is a nice place you've got here." Brooke snapped out of her daze. She glanced back at the door to make sure Luke and Haley were still inside before stomping down the rest of the stairs to stand in front of Nathan.

"What the hell do you think you're doing here?" she demanded. She couldn't believe this was happening. She watched as Nathan smirked at her again and walked to the back of his car. Nicki walked around the car and smiled at Brooke.

"Hi, I'm Nicki Baxter," she greeted with a stupid grin. She held out her hand for Brooke to shake.

"I'll just call you bitch, for short," she shot back. She sent a disgusted look her way before stalking over to Nathan. By the time she got to him, he had all their bags in his hands and he was shutting the trunk.

"Where should I put our bags?" God, he was loving this. The look on her face was priceless. Nothing mad him happier than pissing Brooke off. He took a step forward, but Brooke stood in front of him. She put her hands on her hips.

"Again, I ask," she hissed. "What the hell do you think you're doing here?" He shook his head and handed Nicki her bags.

"You never did uninvited me." Brooke looked at him like he had gone crazy. She couldn't believe that he actually had the nerve to come here, and with a girl no less. And his excuse was that she never told him he couldn't come? After all the crap that he pulled, did she really need to tell him? Wasn't it obvious?

"Okay," she replied sarcastically. "You're officially uninvited." He laughed and shook her head.

"Too late," he told her. This time when he started walking, Brooke didn't move to stop him. She couldn't move. This was possible the worst thing that could ever happen. "We're already here." He and Nicki began walking towards the steps. "So, where's our room?"

**...OTH...**

That's all for now. I hope that was okay. I know you all probably wanted to see Haley's reaction, but that will just have to wait till the next chapter. So, you know the way this works. The more replies, the faster I update.

PS: And to those of you who were wondering…. Yes, Nicki is Jake's baby momma. Just thought I'd clarify that for you all. Don't forget to reply.


	27. Confrontations of All Sorts

_Author's Note:_ Hey. Okay. I have some bad news. The other board that I had this posted at got some kind of virus and I wasn't able to save the end of this. I managed to save the next four or five chapters, but not the last three or four. And I have no other copies of them, so it looks like you guys are out of luck. When I'm done posting the remaining chapters I have, I'll post a summary of the ending for you. I hope you all understand.

**…OTH…**

"I have a really bad feeling about this."

Peyton and Jake were on their way to the Davis cabin and Peyton was starting to have second thoughts. She hadn't spoken to Haley in over a week. She wanted desperately to talk to her, to try and explain herself again, but Brooke said that it would be best to leave her be for now. When Brooke told her the plan to surprise Haley at the cabin, Peyton immediately said no. She knew that if she was ever going to fix things with Haley, she had to let Haley come to her. Cornering her in the middle of nowhere wasn't going to do them any good. So when Brooke told her that Haley knew she was coming and was still agreeing to go, Peyton couldn't help the tinge of hope that sparked up in her. Maybe they could get past everything after all.

"Why?" Jake asked, glancing over at her quickly before returning his eyes to the road. He noticed that Peyton was playing with the hem of her shirt, something she only did when she was really nervous.

"I'm just worried about how Haley will react when we get there." Even thought Brooke had assured her that Haley knew about them coming, she still had doubts. She knew how badly Brooke wanted the two of them to make up, so she would be willing to do anything.

"I thought Brooke told her we were coming?"

"She said she did," Peyton replied, looking out the window. Her stomach started doing flip-flops as she recognized the scenery. They were just passing the entrance to the section Brooke's cabin was in. "But it's Brooke, so you can't exactly trust her word, you know."

"I guess," Jake laughed. He felt bad that Peyton was fighting with her best friend, but he was pretty sure that they would be made up by the end of the weekend. Haley had told him that she still loved Peyton, so he knew that there was hope for them yet. "But do you really think that she would lie about something this big? Especially if she was going to be stuck with the two of you all weekend?"

"It's Brooke," Peyton stated, with a sigh. "Anything is possible with her." She returned to looking out the window. She watched as they passed tree after tree. She had come up here so many times when she was little. She remembered getting lost in the forest once. It had taken Brooke's parents two hours to find them. They ended up staying in some cave they found.

"That's a good point." Jake read the signs that were at the beginning of each driveway, keeping an eye out of the one that said Davis. "Which one is it?"

"It's right up there," she answered, pointing to the driveway that was almost completely hidden by the branches from the trees. Jake nodded and turned into the gravel road. He noticed that Peyton was starting to take very deep breaths. He laughed softly.

"It's gonna be okay," Jake assured her, reaching carefully across the seats to rest his hand on her thigh. He glanced over again and noticed her staring forward. "And if Brooke was lying, we can always just go back home. I'm sure my parents wouldn't mind being relieved of Jenny duty early…"

"You have got to be kidding me," Peyton exclaimed when the cabin finally came into view. Jake looked at her strangely, trying to grunge her sudden change of attitude.

"What?" he asked as he followed her gaze. He saw what had Peyton so shocked and his eyes widened. Nathan's black Mustang was parked right beside Brooke's silver Bug in front of the house.

"That son of a bitch." The car started to slow down and before Jake could bring it to a complete stop, Peyton was already out of the car and running towards the cabin. She took the steps two at a time. She could not believe the nerve of that jackass.

"Peyton, wait!" Jake called out his window. He swore under his breath when she didn't listen to him. He quickly tried to get the car parked as soon as he could. He grimaced when he heard the front door slam open. Whoever was in there was not going to get a happy greeting.

"Where the hell is he?" Peyton yelled, as she threw the front door open. She ignored the noise as at slammed against the outside of the cabin and walked further into the cabin. She stopped in her tracks when she noticed a girl sitting on the couch in the living room.

"Hi."

"Who the hell are you?" Peyton hissed. She had no idea who she was, but she didn't like her already. Without waiting for a response from the girl, Peyton starting looking around the place for any sign of her friends. Nicki pushed herself off the couch to follow the pissed off blonde. She leaned on the wall as she watched Peyton open each door in the hallway.

"They aren't here," Nicki informed her, once she came out of the third room. Peyton stopped her frantic movements and stared at her. Peyton didn't know what it was, but there was just something about this girl that she didn't like. She just knew she was trouble. Nicki caught the look and smile. "I'm Nicki."

"Peyton," she replied coldly. She did not have time to deal with this chick now. She shook her head and walked back into the living room. "You said they aren't here?"

"Yeah, they all went after some girl…"

"Peyton, why didn't you wait for me?" Jake asked as he came running in the front door. He stopped dead in his tracks when he spotted Nicki standing not two feet away from Peyton. Nicki looked to be equally surprised. "Nicki?"

"Jake Jaglieski," she stated with a smirk. She honestly had no idea that Nathan was a friend with her ex, but that just made the whole thing even better. "Long time, no see." Jake did not return the smile she was giving him, instead he was shooting her a glare.

"Yeah, how long has it been?" he asked sarcastically. "I think it's been almost a year and a half since you left town, hasn't it?" Peyton looked back and forth between the two trying to figure out what was going one. It was obvious that they knew each other.

"Jake, you know her?" she asked, her intense rage at Nathan forgot for the time being. It took Jake a moment to break his death stare at Nicki before he turned to her.

"She's my ex-girlfriend," he answered softly. He didn't think that Peyton was the jealous type, but he wasn't exactly sure how she was going to react. Peyton's eyes widened and she glanced back at Nicki.

"Is she…" Jake nodded, knowing what she was about to ask.

"Yeah," he answered softly. He didn't like to talk about Nicki, especially with Peyton. "She's Jenny's mother."

Peyton let the information wash over her. Over the year that she and Jake had been seeing each other, she had grown very fond of Jenny, she even thought of her as her daughter in a way. In fact, she said her first word when Peyton was baby-sitting her; mama.

She had always wondered about what Jenny's mother was really like. She asked Jake about her a couple times, but he won't even tell her the girl's name. Finally, after a while, she realized that she was never going to find out anything about this mystery girl, so she just moved on. Up until now, she hadn't really thought about it.

"Let me guess," Nicki said, interrupting her thoughts. She had caught the pained look that came to the blonde's face when Jake told her and she put two and two together. "You're the new girlfriend?"

"That really is none of your business, Nicki," Jake snapped. Peyton looked at him in surprise. She had never seen him look so angry before. Usually he's so clam and relaxed. Seeing him like this kind of scared her. She just hoped that she never did anything to make him hate her like that.

"And the kitten has claws," she laughed. She loved it when Jake got like that. She found him a lot more attractive when he was pissed off.

"Both of you, just shut up," Peyton exclaimed. "As much as I'd like to stand here and trade puns with the two of you, there is a more pressing matter that I must attend to." Peyton send a pleading look in Jake's direction for him to let things go for now. He sighed and nodded.

"Okay," he mumbled. Nicki's smile widened when she saw how wiped he was. He was the same with her. That boy seriously needed to grow a backbone.

"Fine with me," she laughed. She quickly stopped when she saw the look Peyton was giving her. She didn't know what it was, but there was something about the blonde that scared her.

"What are you doing here, anyway? "

"Nathan brought me up," she answered. By the look on Peyton's face, that wasn't the answer she was looking for.

"I'm gonna kill him," she stated. Neither Jake nor Nicki thought she was joking. The hatred was clearly written on her face, anyone could see it. "You said they weren't here. Where'd they go?"

"They went off looking for some girl," she answered. She wasn't entirely sure herself what happened. All Nathan told her was to wait there for the others to come.

"Haley?"

"I don't know," Nicki shrugged. "I didn't catch the name. She just freaked out when she saw Nathan and took off." Peyton closed her eyes. This was just what she was afraid of happening. "The other girl started screaming at him. Finally, after like five minutes the other guy suggested that they go look for her."

"When was all of this?" Peyton was trying to think of all the possible things that could have happened to Haley when she ran off. There was so much stuff out in the woods that Haley won't know about. She also couldn't forget about the fact that the woods were huge and Haley could be anywhere out there.

"I'm not sure." Nicki glanced at her watch. "Maybe an hour ago."

"And you still haven't heard from them?" Nicki shook her head. Peyton closed her eyes again and she could felt Jake wrap an arm around her waist. She took a few deep breaths as she ran a hand over her face.

"Everything will be okay," Jake tried to tell her. He knew that it wasn't true, and he was pretty sure that she didn't believe him. He could feel her start to tense up. She was really worried about Haley and he knew what she was about to do.

"I'm going to look for her," she announced. She moved out of Jake's arms and spun on her heels, heading towards the door. Jake quickly followed. "You can't stop me, Jake. I've been lost out there before with Brooke, it's not fun. She's alone and upset. It's not safe and I'm going to go find her."

"Not alone," he told her, grabbing onto her arm as she opened the door. "I'm going with you." She shook her head and looked past him to Nicki.

"This may be against my best interest," she began, eyeing Nicki. "But I want you to stay here with her. If Hales comes back here, she's not going to want to be alone with her."

"You can't go out there alone," he stated, looking out the door to the forest. He shook his head and looked back at her face. "It's not safe."

"I've been out there hundreds of times," she promised him. She could see the fear and concern in his eyes and she found it overwhelmingly sweet. God, she loved him. She had no idea what she would do if he ever did what Nathan did to Haley. The need she felt to go find Haley was multiplied now. "I won't get lost, I promise."

"Okay," he sighed. He was not okay with this, in fact he was the furthest thing away from okay, but he knew how much Peyton loved Haley so she wasn't going to take no of an answer. "Just be back before it gets dark?"

"I will."

"Be careful." She nodded and he kissed her softly on the lips before letting her arm go. "I love you."

"Love you, too." With one more kiss and a final warning glare at Nicki, Peyton was out the door. Jake stared after her for a moment, noticing that the sky was looking dark. He said a silent prayer that everyone turned out okay and closed the door.

"So," Nicki began in a suggestive tone. Jake slowly turned around to face her. He knew the look on her face all too well and he didn't like it. "It looks like it's just you and me."

**…OTH…**

"We've already looked here," Lucas exclaimed as he noticed the huge rock that had blue paint on it. He sighed and sat down on the rock. "It's been an hour and we still haven't found her."

"And we aren't going to if you just sit there," Nathan spat at him. He was really starting to get worried. Haley never just took off like that. She was the smart one in the group, she knew better than that. "Get your ass up and in gear."

"Give me a minute," Lucas defended, leaning forward and resting his hands on his knees. He was really starting to get tired. He could run up and down a basketball courts for an hour, but he could barely last fifteen minutes of hiking, it just wasn't his thing.

"We don't have time," Nathan replied. He reached forward and grabbed a hold of his brother's arm and jerked him forward. Lucas stumbled a bit before regaining his balance. When he was standing, Lucas glared at Nathan.

"Dude!"

"Look, Haley is lost, okay," he reminded him. It was like very second that passed, he just got more scared. "We don't have time to sit and rest. She is out there somewhere by herself."

"And whose fault is that?" Brooke demanded. So far she had kept pretty quite, only supplying her input when it was asked, but she had had enough. She didn't say anything before because she didn't think that she could restrain herself from murdering Nathan. "You're the complete jackass that crashed the trip and brought a girl along for the ride."

"I didn't…"

"Honestly, what in the hell were you thinking?" She had known Nathan Scott for almost her entire life so she knew that he could be a real dick sometimes, but what he did even surprised her. "Were you trying to completely destroy Haley? I mean, are you even made of human parts?"

"I didn't think she was coming still," was his lame excuse. While it was true, he really didn't think that Haley would be there, he still knew that he shouldn't have done it in the first place. He obviously wasn't wanted there, but he did it just to prove a point. He wanted everyone to think that he was over Haley, that he wasn't going to wait around for her. "I thought she was still mad at Peyton."

"Which is also your fault."

"Whatever," he groaned. "We don't have time to play the blame game right now, okay? We need to find her before it gets dark." He glanced over to see that Lucas was standing up straight, looking more energized than before. "You good?"

"Yeah," he answered, nodding his head. He laced his fingers in with Brooke's and started walking again, Nathan trailing behind them. After calling out Haley's name for five minutes, Brooke felt something land on her. She looked up at the dark sky and let out a frustrated scream.

"And now it's raining," she exclaimed. This was just what they needed. She held onto Luke's hand tighter and snuggled into his side as they walked down the dirt path. She was really starting to get worried about her best friend. Haley was not an outdoorsy kind of person, if she got in some kind of trouble, she won't had the slightly idea what to do.

"She'll be okay, sweetie," Lucas assured her, kissing her softly on the head. He could practically feel his girlfriend's fear radiating off of her and it only made him feel worse. He was just as scared as she was, but he had to be strong for her. He had to keep her thinking that everything would be okay. "She has to be."

Nathan kept quiet, listening to them talking as if he wasn't there. He didn't blame them though, he would ignore him too. This whole thing was his fault; Haley was missing because of him. He couldn't believe that he had exactly brought Nicki up there with me. How much more of an ass could he be?

He prayed to himself that they would find Haley and that she would be okay. Like Lucas said, she had to be okay. He couldn't lose her, not again, not now. He realized that he would rather have her as a friend than not have her at all, but from where he stood now, he would be lucky if she ever looked at him again.

**…OTH…**

That's all. Hope you liked it. I'll be back with the remaining chapters soon. Please review. Peace.


	28. Dancing In the Rain

_Author's Note:_ Okay, well, good news. The virus got cured, I guess, for the most part, and I was able to save pretty much all of the story. I'm just missing one chapter, which is actually the one between last chapter and the one that I'm posting now. Luckily, nothing really that big happens in it, and it can easily make sense without it, I think. So, I'm just going to post this chapter and see if you guys ahve any trouble with it. If you have any questions, just ask, and I'll be sure to answer them in my next update. Enjoy.

**--OTH--**

"So, this is fun."

It had been over an hour since Peyton had found Haley collapsed on the ground with a hurt ankle and the rain still hadn't let up. It continued to pour down on them and it showed no sign of stopping any time soon. The girls were starting to get really cold and they still hadn't thought of what they could do. Peyton tried to think of something helpful, but not too surprisingly she had come up empty handed. She was kind of hoping that Haley would think of something; that was her job after all. She was the smart one in the group, not Peyton. But as of now, it seemed that Haley wasn't at her best because she too couldn't think of anything.

"Don't blame this on me," Haley exclaimed, glaring in Peyton's direction. As mad at she was at Peyton right now, she had to admit she was extremely happy that she was there with her. She knew it was kind of selfish to be glad that her best friend was stranded in the middle of nowhere with her, but she couldn't imagine how scared she'd be if she was alone still.

"I'm not," Peyton replied. She was trying her hardest not to beg for Haley's forgiveness, but it was proving harder than she thought it would be. There was nothing she hated more than having someone mad at her. "I came out here on my own free will."

"For some reason," Haley mumbled under her breath. She knew in her heart she had an excellent reason to be pissed off at Peyton, but she couldn't help but think that she was being a little harsh on the blonde. Peyton raised an eyebrow and looked at her through all the rain.

"What do you mean?"

"I just don't see why you'd come all the way out here in the pouring rain when I've been a complete bitch to you for the past week." As much as being hated bothered Peyton, she knew it hurt Haley just as much to hate her. Haley was the kind of person that hated being mean to people. There was nothing that made her feel worse.

"Well, it wasn't raining when I left," Peyton joked, trying to lighten the mood. It seemed to work some what as Haley let out a small laugh. After a moment Peyton turned serious again. "Seriously, Hales, do you really think that I was going to leave my best friend out here all by herself?"

"Not much of a best friend," Haley responded in a bitter tone. Neither of them was sure if she was referring to herself or Peyton. Haley didn't think she should be so hard on herself, but she couldn't figure out why she hadn't forgiven Peyton yet when she had forgiven Brooke so easily; they were both her best friends. So what was so different about Peyton's case?

"When that Nicki bitch said you ran off, I just had this horrible feeling that something was wrong," Peyton explained. She officially didn't care if she had to beg for Haley's forgiveness, she needed it. "Knowing that you could be hurt out here… I've been lost out here before, it's not fun." Haley glanced at her quickly before looking straight ahead again. She wanted so badly to forgive her, but she just wasn't ready yet.

"How'd you find your way back?"

"Brooke and I hid in this cave," the blonde retold. "Brooke's parents found us a couple hours later." Haley whipped her head around to look at Peyton, her eyes wide. Peyton didn't seem to understand what she was trying to get at. "What?"

"There's a cave somewhere around here?" Peyton's eyes widened, not believing her own stupidity. She quickly looked around at her surroundings, trying to see if she recognized any of it from when she was little. She shrugged and looked helplessly at Haley.

"I don't know," she sighed. She tried to think back really hard to remember where she and Brooke had found that cave. Once again, she came up with nothing. The only thing she could remember clearly was a huge cliff and a funny looking tree that covered most of the cave. "When we got lost I can't remember which way we went. For all I know it could be on the other side of the cabin."

"Great," Haley mumbled. She wasn't mad at Peyton for not remembering; she couldn't remember what she had for breakfast two days ago. "What are we supposed to do then?"

"Someone will find us eventually," Peyton told her in what she hoped was a reassuring voice. She was starting to believe herself less and less the longer they were stuck out there. "I'm sure the gang is back at the cabin, cooking up a search party to come out and find us." She caught the worried look come across Haley's face. As bad as she was in situations like this, Haley was worse. She carefully reached over and put an arm around Haley's shoulder, pulling her closer. "We'll be okay. We just have to wait a little bit longer."

"I didn't tell you this before cause I didn't want you to worry," Haley began in a shaky voice. A feeling of dread washed over Peyton as she heard the scared tone in Haley's voice. "But I can't feel my legs anymore." Peyton's eyes widened and she pulled back from Haley to get a good look at her. She couldn't see it before because of the dark and rain, but Haley's skin was sickly pale and she was shaking.

"Oh, God," she cried, pulling back completely. "Haley, you're shaking." Without giving it a second thought, she pulled off her jacket and wrapped it around Haley's upper body. "When did this start?"

"Before you got here," Haley answered in a slow voice. She wrapped her arms tighter around her body in an attempt to keep warm. It was completely useless, however, as she was already soaked to the bone. The jacket that Peyton gave her didn't help much either considering it was already drenched in water. Peyton watched helplessly as Haley continued to shake and her teeth chattered as she spoke. "My fingers are starting to go numb too."

"Hales, you should have told me," Peyton scolded. She saw the guilty look on Haley's face and the anger that had come up in her gut disappeared as soon as it appeared. She shook her head, telling Haley that she was sorry. She pulled Haley back into her arms, remembering that the best way to keep someone warm was with body heat.

"What are we going to do, Pey?" Haley asked, her voice sounding lost and far off to Peyton's ears. She had never heard Haley sound so helpless before and it scared her to death. Peyton dug down deep inside of her and tried to find the courage to be strong. The last thing that Haley needed from her right now was for her to freak out.

"I'm gonna get you warm," she answered, her voice strong and unwavering. It sounded like it was the easiest thing in the world. Haley tried to laugh at her statement, but it came out as a cough. Peyton closed her eyes at the horrible sound.

"How you gonna… gonna manage that?" Peyton knew her plan wasn't the best or most sensible one in the world, but it was their only shot. Peyton laid her hands on Haley's neck, moving them over different spots to try and warm her up. She heard that the neck and head were the most important places to keep warm. Who knew all that crap you learn in PE was actually good for something?

"I'm gonna go looking for that cave," Peyton answered. She knew it was a long shot, pretty much an impossibility, but she could only hope that God would give her a break for once in her life and let her find it. "I'm gonna find it and then come back and get you."

"Okay," Haley answered, her voice so quite that Peyton wouldn't have been able to hear it if she wasn't holding her so close. "But… but it's dark. You could get lost."

"I'll take my cell," Peyton answered, pulling out the object she was referring to. Before Haley could comment on her answer, Peyton continued. "This thing is like a flashlight, you know that. You almost had a hissy fit when I turned it on in the middle of the movie theatre."

"It lit up the whole place," Haley remembered. She knew what Peyton was doing; she remembered all those stupid classes that didn't seem so stupid anymore. They were told that if you couldn't get the person warm, you had to do everything in your power to keep them awake. Haley looked up at Peyton as she nodded, smiling at the memory.

"You gonna be okay here alone for a bit?" Peyton asked, even though it didn't really matter. Haley was going to die if they didn't get somewhere warm soon, so there wasn't really a choice in the matter. She felt Haley nod her head slightly. "Is your cell in your pocket?"

"Yeah." Peyton reached around Haley's body and dug into the girl's pocket. She got a hold of it and held up Haley's hand, placing the phone firmly in her grip.

"If you hear me calling, press a button," Peyton instructed. She knew it was a lame idea; the phone would probably get damaged in the rain before she could use it, but it was better than nothing. "I should be able to see the light."

"Like in that commercial?" Peyton couldn't help but laugh. Even to her dying breath, Haley will make jokes. That's one of the things she loved about her. "The boats, and the party? Like that?"

"Yeah, just like that," Peyton nodded. If it weren't raining, Haley would be able to see the tears rolling down Peyton's cheeks. "I'm gotta go now, sweetie." Haley nodded and loosened her hold on Peyton.

"Don't be long," Haley begged. Peyton nodded and kissed Haley on the forehead. She closed her eyes and tried her best to ignore how cold Haley's skin felt against her lips. When she pulled back she saw that Haley was looking up at her with concerned eyes.

"You better be here when I get back," Peyton warned her in a stern voice. It came off as joking, but she had never been more serious about something in her entire life. She had no idea what she would do if Haley died out here.

"I promise nothing," Haley answered truthfully. She knew that was not what Peyton wanted to hear, but she didn't have the energy to reassure the blonde about this. With one last pleading look, Peyton let go of Haley and stood up. She turned on her cell phone and managed to smile victoriously when see could see almost ten feet in front of her.

"I'll be back soon." Peyton sent Haley one more reassuring smile before taking a few steps forward. She was almost out of sight when Haley called out to her.

"Pey," she called. Peyton just barely heard the called. She turned around and walked back a bit so Haley won't have to strain her voice. She felt her heart drop to her feet when she saw how small Haley looked.

"Yeah?"

"I forgive you," she said. She didn't know why, but she just felt that she needed to say it before Peyton left. It was something the blonde needed to hear. "For what it's… for what it's worth… I forgive you. For everything."

"Thanks," Peyton whispered. That was what she had wanted to hear for the last week, but now that Haley was saying it, it felt like a blow to the stomach. It was almost like Haley was saying goodbye. "But we'll talk about it later, when I get you warm." Haley let out a huff and nodded. "I love you."

"Love you too." Without another word, Peyton turned around and jogged off in the direction she had come in. Haley watched after her, didn't emotions running through her. She wasn't sure if she was going to be okay, she had never been so unsure about anything in her entire life. And it scared her to death.

**--OTH--**

"It's this way," Nathan argued, pointing to his left. Brooke shook her head and latched onto her boyfriend's hand.

"I'm telling you," Brooke hissed, tugging on Luke's hand and pulling him in the direction she was referring to. "It's this way." Lucas let out a sigh and nodded, following Brooke and grabbing Nathan's shirtsleeve to come join them. Finally, after an hour of wandering around the wet, dark forest, they found the road. Once they were all out on the main road, Brooke smiled victoriously. "I told you so."

"Congratulation," Nathan muttered, pulling out of Luke's grip and walking in front of them in the direction of Brooke's cabin. Brooke was about to snap at him, but stopped when she saw the pleading look on Luke's face to leave him alone. She sighed and nodded, keeping her mouth shut.

"Thank you," Lucas whispered, leaning down to kiss Brooke's hair. He put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer to his side. "I know what you're thinking, and she'll be fine."

"How do you know, Lucas?" Brooke asked, pulling out of his arms to look up at him with questioning eyes. He kept telling her over and over again that Haley would be okay and Brooke wanted to know if he really believe it or not. "It's cold and it's raining and it's dark. What if she's hurt? What if she trapped under some huge tree and freezing to death? Or what if…"

"Baby," Luke called out, trying to get her to calm down. She stopped her rant and look up at him. Even though it was raining, Lucas could see Brooke's eyes starting to tear up. "I've known Haley almost my whole life, she's a fighter. She'd never give up and I know you know that."

"I know, it's just…" Brooke trailed off as she watched Nathan walking a few yards in front of them. She knew that he was just as worried as she was, he loved Haley even after all of this crap, but there was just something in her that wouldn't let herself feel sorry for him. Haley was out there, lost because of him. She could lose her best friend just because he was a jackass that couldn't keep it in his pants.

"What?"

"I can't lose her," Brooke admitted. "I don't know what I'll do if she's not okay."

"She'll be okay," Lucas repeated for what seemed like the hundredth time that night. He knew exactly how she felt. Haley was his best friend in the entire world, there were very few people that he loved as much as her, and he couldn't imagine never seeing her again. "You just have to believe that."

"Yeah," Brooke sighed. Luke made it sound so easy, like as long as she thought Haley was okay, she was. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. As much as it would kill her if Haley weren't okay, she knew that it would hurt everyone else just as much. They all loved Haley and they'd be lost without her.

"There's a car coming," Nathan called out from ahead of them. They all turned around and watched as the car approached. When Nathan noticed it was starting to slow down, he began walking back to stand with Brooke and Lucas. "It's stopping."

"Thanks Tips," Brooke snapped. Nathan rolled his eyes, completely ignoring her attitude. Brooke squinted her eyes, wiping the water out of her face, trying to see the car. "Hey, is that…"

"Tim," they all sighed. For the first time in their entire lives, they were thankful to see Tim. When the car pulled over to the side of the road, they all stepped forward. The passenger side window opened slightly to reveal Lacy's blonde head.

"Get in, get in," she instructed them, reaching back to unlock the door. Lucas got in first, followed by Brooke and Nathan. Once they were all squeezed in, Tim pulled the car back on the road and continued to drive. Lacy immediately turned on the heater.

"Thanks for the ride," Lucas said, the first one to speak. Tim looked in the rearview mirror and had to stifle a laugh when he saw Brooke's hair and makeup. She looked like It. "What are you guys doing here anyway?"

"Tim told me that he gave our spot to Nathan and some girl," Lacy answered, shooting both Tim and Nathan glares. She hadn't talked to Tim the entire way up, and she was ashamed that she ever felt sorry for Nathan. "I insisted that we come up here and straighten everything out."

"Good luck with that."

"Why were you guys out in the rain?" Tim asked, speaking for the first time since they had left Tree Hill. He felt bad when he realized what an idiot he had been when he told Nathan to go up there. He couldn't believe he had been that stupid.

"Long story," Nathan answered before Lucas or Brooke could. He didn't need to go another round of the blame game. He already felt horrible about what he had done, and nothing they said could make him feel worse. Lacy and Tim seemed to accept the answer and the rest of the ride was made in silence.

"It's right here," Brooke informed Tim, pointing to where her cabin was. Tim nodded and turned the car into the driveway. He parked it and turned it off. "I told you Pey and Jake would be here." They all filed out and ran as fast as they could up the stairs and into the cabin.

"We're soaked," Lucas stated once they were inside. Brooke and Nathan nodded as they began to ring out their clothing. Tim shook out his hair and Lacy moved further into the living room.

"You guys should probably get changed before you get hypo…" Lacy trailed off when she saw Jake and Nicki sitting on the couch, both at separate ends. "Oh my God." Nicki and Jake turned around to see everyone standing in the doorway to the living room. Nicki's face broke into a smile when she saw Lacy standing there.

"Hey, baby sister."

**--OTH--**

Peyton trudged through the forest, trying to get back to where she had left Haley. She had no luck finding the cave, but she did find an empty cabin. She had managed to get the door open to find it fully stocked. Peyton just grabbed a blanket that had been laid out on the back of the couch and headed back for Haley.

"Hales!" she called out, keeping an eye open for the light of Haley's cell phone. When she didn't see anything, she kept walking, holding her own phone out so she could see in front of her. She sighed in relief when she spotted her footprints on the ground. That meant she was almost at Haley. She pushed a branch out of the way and Haley's came into view.

"Hey, Hales," she cheered, skipping to her side. "I found this cabin not too far away. It had heat and everything…" She finally took in Haley's appearance. Her skin was blue and she was shaking so much it looked like she was having convulsions.

"Pey…" was the only thing Haley could say. Peyton's eyes filled with tears as she watched Haley close her eyes. She was about to shake Haley to wake her up but stopped when she remembered that shaking her would only make matters worse. She reached out and took Haley's face in her hands.

"Hales!" she screamed, trying to wake her up. "Haley, you need to stay awake for me." She slapped Haley's face lightly and felt her heart skip a beat when she saw Haley's eyes open. "Thank, God." She started kissing Haley's face, pressing her lips anywhere she could. She had never been more happy to be able to look into someone's eyes.

"Everything hurts," Haley whispered, letting her eyes drop shut again.

"No, no," Peyton pleaded, moving her hand up Haley's forehead. "You need to keep your eyes open, baby. You can't sleep now." Haley's only response was a slight nod. Peyton quickly wrapped the blanket tightly around her best friend and started to pull her to her feet.

"I don't…" Haley whispered incoherently. Peyton wrapped her arm around Haley's waist and brought the other girl's arm around her shoulders. She felt Haley's body become almost completely limp in her arms as she tried to walk them through the forest.

"Hold on, Hales," she pleaded, hoisting Haley's body up before they fell. She didn't know how long she could carry Haley like this; she just hoped she was strong enough to make it to the cabin she had found.

She wasn't exactly sure what she was going to do once they made it to the cabin. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to do. She never really listened in class when they taught this sort of thing; she just recalled bits and pieces as she went along. The only thing she could hope was that the storm didn't knock out the phone.

"Just a little longer," Peyton pleaded, as she almost tripped over a fallen branch that was in the middle of the pathway. "Please don't leave me."

**--OTH--**

That's all for now. I hope you guys liked it and it wasn't too confusing or anything. Please tell me what you think, I love to hear what you guys have to say.


	29. It's All Relative

_Author's Note:_ Hey, guys. I hope you didn't miss me too much. I'm back with another drive by update. Not much to say, except thanks so much for all the reviews, I'm glad that you guys like this. I hope you enjoy this chapter as well.

**--OTH--**

"I'm sorry, what did you just say?"

After Nicki greeted Lacy, there had been complete silence in the room. Everyone was confused, even Nicki and Lacy. They hadn't seen each other in nearly three years, so to run into each other here, was very surprising. Jake, for his part was just as surprised and confused as everyone else. He had known Nicki for more than two years and he didn't know she had a sister, let alone it being Lacy. He glanced between the two, trying to see if he could see a resemblance, but he just couldn't see it. They were completely opposite. Lacy was a sweet, innocent girl while Nicki was a bitchy slut.

"She's my sister," Nicki repeated, smiling at the look on Jake's face. She loved it when he got that look. Nicki shook her head and quickly moved around the couch, running to her sister. "Hey, babe."

"Nic," Lacy cheered, hoping her arms to her sister. If felt like she hadn't seen her in years. She wasn't aware of anything that had happened in Nicki's life. All she knew of her was the nice girl that she used to be when they were younger. She didn't know the new and improved version of her big sis.

"Lac," Nicki laughed, pulling out of the embrace to get a good look at Lacy. She couldn't believe how much she had grown up. Last time she saw her, she had braces, pimples and brown hair. "Love the hair. You're definitely supposed to be a blonde," she commented as she held up a few strains for the hair she was referring to.

"Thanks," Lacy smiled. "And maybe a sarcastic thanks for the last comment, I'm not sure how to take that one."

"It was a compliment," Nicki assured her. Jake watched them interact and was even more surprised then he was before. He wasn't used to Nicki being this loving and nice. It felt a little strange to see her with Lacy.

"Well, then thanks." They shared a laugh and continued to converse quietly for a few more moments to themselves. The others stood on and watched in complete shock. Tim was kind of hurt that he didn't know Lacy had a sister while Nathan couldn't believe his own damn luck that the girl he had hooked up with was his baby momma's sister. Was every damn person in Tree Hill related?

"How can you guys be sisters?" Jake questioned causing everyone to turn to him.

"What do you mean?" Lacy asked. She didn't really know Jake that well; he was probably the person in the group she spent the least amount of time with. All she knew was that he had Jenny and that he seemed like a good enough guy.

"Well, you're last name is Roberts," he pointed out. It seemed that it was the first time that the other four had thought about that little detail as they all nodded their heads. "And Nicki's is Baxter. What's that about?"

"When did you change your name back to Roberts?" Nicki asked, turning to regard her little sister. She still couldn't get over how beautiful she grew up to be. She always knew she was going to be a heartbreaker.

"Last year," Lacy replied, frowning at the thought. She hated having to change her name. It screwed everything up with school and health cards and everything else that she was registered as Lacy Baxter. "Mom made me."

"Why would she do that?"

"Cause dad left," Lacy informed her. She wasn't surprised when Nicki didn't seem to upset about it. Nicki and their parents never got along very well, that's why she got kicked out of the house all those years ago because they were tired of always arguing with each other.

"Surprise, surprise," Nicki muttered. Lacy let out a little laugh at her comment, agreeing completely with it. "Let me guess, mom changed back to Roberts just to spite him?"

"Of course."

"I can't believe this," Brooke finally spoke up. They had all been thinking the whole time, so leave it to her to say it out loud. Nicki and Lacy stopped their conversation and turned to look at her.

"What?" Lacy questioned, wrapping an arm around Nicki's waist. When she looked at Brooke, she couldn't help but notice the sad look on Tim's face and she cursed herself for keeping her sister a secret from him.

"You're related to the ho?" Brooke asked, glaring openly at Nicki. She didn't like her in the least and she certainly wasn't afraid to show it. Jake and Luke tried their best to contain the laughter at the statement. Lacy looked taken aback by the question.

"The ho?" she repeated, the confusion could be heard in her voice form a mile away. She looked at Nicki for another moment before turning to regard Brooke again. "No, this is my big sister, Nicki."

"So, you're related to the ho?" she questioned again. She was once again greeted with a confused look from Lacy. Brooke sighed and rolled her eyes. Lacy obviously had no idea what was going on here, and Brooke had a feeling that she herself wasn't completely clued in.

"What are you talking about, Brooke?"

"Your sister there, the ho," Brooke began to explain. "Yeah, she's the girl Nathan brought up here to be his date for the weekend." After watching the shock fall into place on the blonde's face, Brooke turned her attention over to get her usual glare at Nathan. He completely ignored her, used to them by now.

"And she's Jenny's mother," Jake added in for good measure. If they were going to be sharing, he figured he might as well join in. Plus, he could the added bonus of sticking it to both Nathan and Nicki, two of his least favorite people right now. He was pissed at Nathan for causing Peyton so much pain over the crap with Haley and he hated Nicki for the obvious reason. "Just thought you would all like to know."

If it was even possible, Nathan felt even worse about this whole situation. This was all his fault. Every time he tried to do something, he just screwed it up. This whole thing had turned into a disaster and it seemed to take down everyone in its path. Haley was broken and missing, Peyton was best friendless, Brooke was pissed, Lacy was pregnant, and Tim felt betrayed, the list just went on. And if he traced it all back, it all started with him, the night at the club when he made the stupid mistake of cheating on Haley.

"This just got a lot more interesting on so many levels," Lucas commented, being the only one that didn't hold a strong grudge here. The only person he felt any anger towards was Nathan and even that wasn't as strong as it should be. Brooke elbowed him in the stomach and he immediately shut up.

"Jenny's mother?" Brooke and Lacy asked at the same time. They both looked at Jake for a moment before simultaneously turning to look at Nicki, obviously expecting an answer.

"It's a long story," Nicki said, directing her answer entirely to Lacy. She didn't need to explain herself to Brooke; she didn't know anything about her. Her sister, however, she deserved an answer. "I moved to Tree Hill after mom and dad kicked me out. I ended up staying with Whitey for a while."

"You know Whitey?" Lucas questioned, finally showing somewhat of a personal interest. Both Lacy and Nicki nodded their heads.

"Yeah, he's our grandpa," Lacy answered. It took her a while to figure out what was so interesting about that. "Oh, yeah, you guys are all on the basketball team, aren't you? I never thought to tell you guys he was my grandfather. I always forget he's the basketball coach."

"That's so cool," Tim replied, speaking for the first time since they entered they entered the cabin. He was passed all the original hurt feelings of being kept in the dark. It's not like this was the biggest thing that Lacy's kept from him and he was sure there was a reason she didn't tell him.

"Dude," Lucas laughed, slapping him on the back goodheartedly. "Whitey's so gonna kill you when he finds out you're screwing his granddaughter." Tim's eyes shoot open. He hadn't thought of that.

"Aw, crap."

"I met Jake a bit after," Nicki continued, ignoring Tim and Luke's little comments. It took her a second to process what Tim had said. "Wait, you're screwing my baby sister?" Nicki asked Tim, walking slowly towards him.

"Um, yeah," he answered, taking his own step back. He wasn't ashamed to admit that he was a little bit scared of Nicki; she was a scary looking girl. She kind of reminded him of Brooke when she got really pissed off. "But I'm not the one that got her pregnant." Nicki stopped in her tracks. She stared at Tim for a moment longer before spinning on her heels to face her guilty looking sister.

"You're pregnant?"

"A little bit," Lacy admitted. She didn't know what it was, but there was just something in her that hated to disappoint her big sister. Maybe it was because she had always sort of looked up to Nicki when she was younger. She looked up to see that Nicki was about to yell at her. "Hey, you're one to talk."

"It doesn't matter, Lacy," Nicki snapped. She couldn't believe that her sister had been just as stupid as she had. She always thought Lacy was smarter than her, never in her wildest dreams did she think Lacy would be pregnant at seventeen. She saw how guilty Lacy was and her features softened. "Who's the father?"

"Uh, that'd be me," Nathan spoke up. Nicki rolled her eyes and shook her head. She really should have known. That was the only other thing that could possibly go wrong with this situation was if she slept with the father of her sister's baby. God, they were messed up.

"Hey, Jake?" Tim called out, having just thought of something else. Jake tore his gaze away from the sisters to look at his friend. "Does that mean I'm Jenny's uncle?"

"No, man," Jake answered, shaking his head. "Lacy is Jenny's aunt, though, I guess." Tim nodded, and thought about that some more. Lacy's eyes widened when she realized what Tim was about to do.

"But since we just got married doesn't that mean I'm Jenny's uncle now?" Tim clarified for Jake. Lacy let out a groan and shut her eyes. She should have known Tim wasn't going to be able to keep this a secret.

"Tim…" Lacy moaned. He looked at her in confusion before scanning the room to find that everyone was looking at him.

"What?"

**--OTH--**

"Finally," Peyton cheered, glad that they had finally made it to the cabin. Haley had long since stopped talking and Peyton wasn't sure if she was sleeping or not. She didn't think so, since Haley was still kind of walking on her own. If Haley was completely gone, there was no way she would be able to get them as far as she did. "Up we get."

She tried to lift some of Haley's weight and they got up the stairs with only a little bit of trouble. The door was just how she left it and she opened it. Once they were inside, Peyton immediately brought them into one of the bedroom, laying Haley gently down on the bed.

She stood back to look at Haley's almost blue form. Haley was no longer shaking, but Peyton didn't think that was a good thing. She was debating whether or not she should get Haley changed first or call the hospital. She let out a frustrated groan and grabbed the phone that was on the dresser beside her, dialing 911.

"911, please state your emergency."

"Me and my friend got stuck out in the rain," Peyton began to explain, slight franticness slipping into her voice. "She must have been out there maybe four hours. I think she might have hypothermia or something."

"Is your friend still awake?" the lady asked. She could easily tell that Peyton was starting to freak out and she needed to get her to calm down so she could tell her what to do. Peyton looked over at Haley on the bed.

"I'm not sure," Peyton answered. "I think so, but her eyes are closed."

"Okay, I need you to listen to me…" The lady told Peyton exactly what she needed to do to get Haley warm while the ambulance was on it's way. Since Peyton had no idea where they were, it was going to take them a while to get there. "Do you think you can do that?"

"Yeah," Peyton replied, trying to sound as confident as possible. She nodded emphatically even thought the operator couldn't see her. "I'll do that right now. Thank you for all the help."

"That's what I'm here for," the woman said. "The ambulance should be there soon, just make sure you do everything I told you."

"I will," Peyton promised. "Bye."

As soon as she hung up the phone, she pulled out the top drawer of the dresser. She pulled out shirt and examined it, smiling happily when she saw it was a man's t-shirt. I would be so much easier to get Haley into this than it would a woman's shirt. She grabbed the rest of the clothes she would need to dress Haley and moved over to the bed.

After she got Haley completely out of the wet clothes, she replaced them with the dry ones she had just taken. As she carefully pulled the shirt over Haley's head, she tried her best to ignore how limp Haley was as she basically had to hold her up. Once she got Haley redressed, she grabbed herself some clothes and quickly changed in the next room. When she reentered she was surprised to find Haley with her eyes opened slightly.

"Hey," Haley tried to say, but her voice cracked slightly as she said it. Peyton gave her the brightest smile she could muster and moved over to the bed. She leaned down and pulled the covers over Haley's body.

"Hey, baby," Peyton greeted sweetly. "I was really starting to get scared there for a while. No matter what I tried, you won't open your eyes." Haley attempted to laugh, but it just came out as a cough.

"Sorry," was all she could say. She moved her eyes to look at Peyton, trying to indicate she was asking about her clothes.

"Oh, I stole some clothes from these people," Peyton informed her, waving her hand around the room. "When I called 911, the lady told me I had to get you into dry clothes immediately." Haley nodded.

"Okay." Peyton pulled up the comforter and shifted in her position to lie down beside Haley. As soon as she was still, Haley moved closer to her, seeking out the body warmth. Ignoring the ice cold feeling of Haley's skin against her's, Peyton wrapped her arms around Haley and pulled her closer.

"The lady said I should get you into a nice warm bed," Peyton continued, hoping the sound of her voice would both calm Haley and keep her awake. "She also said that if worse came to worse, I was supposed to get naked and get in bed with you." A small, but genuine smile graced Haley's lips. "She said that the best way to get you warm was from body warmth."

"Likely story," Haley teased. Peyton laughed softly into her hair and nodded. She was happy that Haley at least still had her sense of humor, which was always a good sign with Haley.

"You caught me," she laughed. "I was just looking for an excuse to you naked and in bed." Haley gave her an 'I knew it' look and smirk. "I love you, Hales, with all my heart, but there is no way I'm getting naked with you."

"Thanks."

"Well, I guess if your life depended on it…" They shared a small smile, Peyton making sure that she knew if it was needed, she'd do it instantly, before they fell into silence. Peyton could tell that Haley was scared, even if she was trying to hide it so she gave her a little squeeze, rubbing her hands up and down her best friend's arm. "We're gonna be okay, I promise, you'll make it. We're gonna get home."

"Yeah," was all Haley said. She could still hear Peyton talking, but her voice was starting to become distant to her ears. All she kept hearing over and over again was; 'We're gonna get home'. Home to what, exactly? Home to her supportive parents? Nope. Home to all her wonderful brothers and sisters? Don't think so. Or home to her loving boyfriend?

There was no one to go home to for Haley. She had no one left. So what was the point in all of this? Why should she be fighting so hard to get back home when there would be no one there waiting for her?

**--OTH--**

That's all for now. Hope that you all liked it. I promise to post the next chapter soon. Peace.


	30. Help and Desperate Phone Calls

_Author's Note_: Hey. I don't got much to say. Thank you to everyone who's reviewed, it is greatly appreciated. I hope that you guys continue to like this. Just remember, this story is already done, I've written the ending, so there's nothing I can do if you guys don't like how things go from here on in. Please tell me what you think. Enjoy.

**--OTH--**

"Finally, they're here."

Just like the operator had told her, the ambulance took about half an hour to get to the cabin they were staying it. Luckily for them, the people that owned the place hadn't come by, they would certainly have a lot of explaining to do. Peyton had followed all the instructions she was given; get Haley into dry clothes, get her into a warm bed, keep constant body contact and do anything to keep her awake. After a while, the last thing was proving to be harder than she thought it would be, for both of them. Peyton had tried her best to talk about anything that she could possibly think of, from the drama between Jake and Nikki to what went down on the newest episode of Will & Grace, anything that would keep Haley's eyes open. Eventually, it seemed that nothing was going to keep Haley awake; she was too tired and too cold. It seemed that no matter how close she got to Haley or how many blankets she put on them; Haley was still stone cold.

"Hales, baby, they're here," Peyton whispered into deaf ears. Haley had long since been knocked out and no matter how much screaming Peyton did; she was going to stay that way. "It's time to wake up now."

"Hello!" came a loud shoat from outside followed by a very loud banging. "Is anyone in there? We received a call about hypothermia!"

"In here!" Peyton screamed, despite the sharp pain at the sudden change in volume of her voice. She'd been doing nothing but whispering for the past hour. She heard the door burst open and at least two sets of footsteps scurrying towards the bedroom they were in.

"Which room?"

"First one," she called back, knowing they'd be able to follow her voice anyway without having to give the directions. No more than a few seconds later, the door to the bedroom burst open with the same strength as the front door and two men entered all decked out in full paramedic gear.

"Hello, Ma'am," the older one greeter Peyton as the other guy quickly made his way over to the bed in the middle of the room. He moved over to Haley's side to get a better look at her. "Sorry it took us so long, we got here as soon as we could."

"I was beginning to think you guys forgot about us." He shook his head before going to join his buddy. Peyton watched as the started looking Haley over. They were holding her eyes open to see her pupils, feeling for a pulse, listening to her heartbeat. Peyton watched them do their jobs in awe. Everything seemed so surreal to her, she couldn't believe they were doing all of this to her best friend.

"How long was she out there for?" the younger guy, Neil, asked as he looked up at Peyton with concerned eyes. A bad feeling washed over Peyton as she took in the panicked look on his face. She knew that things couldn't be that good if the paramedic was that scared.

"I don't know," she answered, shaking her head. She thought about how long they were out there, but she couldn't remember exactly, everything was really starting to blend together now. "Um, four hours, I think. Maybe a little longer."

"What was she wearing?" He lifted up the blanket slightly to make sure that she was in dry clothes now. "Not this." Peyton shook her head, making sure to keep an eye on the other guy as he continued to work on her friend.

"Just shorts and a shirt," Peyton answered, nudging her head in the direction their fallen clothes were in. Neil followed where she was indicating and nodded when he saw the pile of wet clothes on the floor. "Is she going to be okay?"

"We don't know yet," the other guy, Chris, answered. "If she was out there for that long, I'm surprised she's lasted as long as she did." Peyton let his words wash over her and had to practically smoother the sob that threatened to spill out. Just knowing that Haley should be dead right now was enough to kill her.

"Why don't you know?" she demanded, her fear overriding her commonsense at the moment. "You're supposed to be doctors, damn it! Tell me my best friend is going to be okay!" Neil and Chris looked at her sympathetically.

"I can't tell you that," Chris restated. Without giving her time to snap at them again, he quickly stood up, removing the blanket that was keeping Peyton and Haley warm.

"What we can tell you is that we're going to do everything in our power to make sure that your friend gets through this with as little damage as possible." She looked at him like he was crazy. Was that really supposed to comfort her right now? Honestly, did he think that was going to make her feel any better about this entire situation?

"But to do that," Chris started again, stopping his movements for getting Haley out of bed to look at Peyton. "We're going to have to get her to the hospital. Which means, you have to let go of your death grip on her." Peyton looked at him in confusion for a moment, before following his gaze to where her arms were tightly wrapped around Haley's body, her hands squeezing her so hard that her almost blue skin was starting to turn purple.

"Oh," was all she said. She looked down at Haley's pale face as she finally let her hands go, letting them take her away. She tried not to think about the fact that she basically just put her best friend's life in two stranger's hands.

"Thank you," one of them said, but Peyton wasn't sure which one. She watched in a daze as they scooped up Haley's limp body on their arms and started towards the door. It took her a moment, but she soon realized that they had left her alone in the room.

"Wait," she called, jumping out of the bed and running out of the room. When she saw them just loading Haley into the back of the huge vehicle, Peyton ran to the front door. "Hey! Hey!" It took them an extra moment because of the volume of the rain, but they eventually heard her. Peyton sighed before running back out into the rain and joining them at the back of the ambulance.

"What are you doing out here?" Neil yelled over the rain, trying to shield his eyes as the water rapidly hit his face. Chris continued to set Haley up on the stretcher.

"I'm going with her," Peyton stated, her voice telling him that there would be no arguing with her on this. She moved to get into the back, but he held his arm out, blocking her way.

"You can't come unless you're family…"

"She is my family and I'm not leaving her," she hissed, staring him directly in the eyes. "I may look skinny and weak, but I should warn you that I turn tiger when someone I love is in trouble." She smiled internally at the genuine fear she could see in his eyes. She didn't think she could be that scary because it never seemed to work on Brooke before. "Now move or I will move you."

"Okay." He stepped to the side and let her slip into the back. When he say that Chris was going to stay in the back, he shut both doors and ran up to the front of the ambulance and jumped in. Once everyone was set, set belts all in tack and the windshield was cleared off, Neil pulled out of the driveway and onto the main road.

Luckily, the distance between the cabin and the hospital was closer so it didn't take them half the time to get there than it had for them to arrive at the cabin. As soon as they pulled up, Chris and Neil immediately went to work. They had Haley out of the ambulance before Peyton even realized what was going on. She quickly jumped out and ran to catch up with them as they wheeled Haley's stretcher into the hospital. Once she was inside, she couldn't see Haley, Chris or Neil anywhere, it was as if they had disappeared. After doing a couple more quick sweeps of the area, Peyton moved over to nurses' station.

"Hello," the lady greeted. Peyton wiped the wet hair out of her face so she could read the lady's nametag. It read Nurse Abby Chapel. "What can I do for you?" Peyton disliked her already; she was way too perky to be working at a hospital. She was a walking oxymoron.

"I'm looking for a friend, Haley James," Peyton explained, making sure to keep the anger and frustration out of her voice. Peyton motioned towards the hall she thinks they would have taken Haley in. "She was just brought in, like literally a minute ago."

"What does she have?"

"Hypothermia," Peyton answered and watched as Abby typed the name and diagnostic into the computer that was in front of her. "She was just rolled in here by two of the paramedics." Abby nodded, reading the information on the screen and listening to the blonde at the same time.

"They'll be working on her for the next little while," Abby explained to her in a sympathetic voice. As good as if felt to help people, nothing felt worse than when she had to see that broken look on a family member's face. "Are you here by yourself?"

"Yeah," Peyton answered, completely distracted by the images of what 'working on her' meant. She wasn't sure what she was referring to, but none of the possibilities in her head were good things, all of them included Haley being in some sort of pain.

"Why don't you call someone to stay with you while you wait?" she suggested. It always seemed that the person waiting alone always got the most tears for obvious reasons.

"Okay," Peyton nodded, already reaching into her pocket for her cell phone. Before she had a chance to even get it out and turned on, the nurse shook her head and held out her hand.

"I'm sorry," she told her regretfully. "There's no cell phones allowed in the hospital, it messes with the machines sometimes." Peyton nodded and slipped it back into her pocket as if nothing had happened.

"That's fine," she answered, her voice flat with almost no emotions at all. Her heart just wasn't in it, it was in Haley's room with her. She tried not to think about all the different possible outcomes of this whole thing could be, and most of them were bad. She wasn't stupid enough to think that Haley would come out of this with nothing wrong with her, but she hoped there were no lasting effects.

"There's pay phones just around the corner," Abby informed her, pointing in the directions the phones were in. "Or you can feel free to use this phone." She held up the hospital phone that was on her desk that was reserved for special calls only. She didn't know what it was, but there was just something about the pain in Peyton's eyes that told her that this was a special case.

"I'll go use the pay phones," Peyton decided, her voice sounding distracted as she slowly turned around. She glanced over her shoulder to give Abby a sad smile and a wave goodbye. "Thanks."

"No problem," Peyton heard Abby call lamely. Peyton slowly made her way over to where she was told the phones were. She didn't know what she was going to say. Just thinking about it made her stomach contrast; she couldn't even imagine how she was supposed to tell everyone. Haley was like the center of the whole group. She was the one person they all had in common; they all loved her to death. If she wasn't okay, everyone would fall apart.

Peyton closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she reached for the phone. She grabbed it and put it to her ear. An unsteady hand began dialing the familiar numbers of Brooke's cell phone.

**--OTH--**

"I must be hearing things," Brooke stated, her voice full of astonishment. There was no possible way that she had just heard what she thinks she just heard. Tim and Lacy were married? No way. "Cause I could have sworn that Tim just said you guys got married."

"I heard it too," Lucas added in, always trying to be helpful. He, just like everyone else in the room, thought it was a stupid idea for them to have gotten married at such a young age, but they could do whatever they wanted to do.

"Same here," Jake called, raising his hand, but never taking his eyes off the happy couple. As shocked as he was to hear about the weeding, he was still trying to get over the fact that his daughter was now related to Tim. That was just something that nobody wanted to hear.

"Well, yeah," Tim said as if they were crazy for reacting the way they were. "I did say that." Nicki looked at Tim for a moment, not believing that her sister would marry such an idiot before looking at Lacy.

"You got married?"

"Kinda," Lacy answered, not being able to look her big sister in the eyes.

"When did this happen?"

"A couple days ago," Lacy informed them. At first she thought it was a bad idea too, her parents had gotten married when they were young and look how they turned out, but then she thought about how much she loved Tim and how much she wanted her baby to have a real dad that would always be there for him and she was okay again.

"Why would you do something like that?" Brooke questioned. She had to admit, she and Luke had talked about it a few times, but they didn't plan on doing it until sometime in the distant future, when they were at least twenty-five. "You guys are only seventeen."

"It seemed like a good idea at the time," Tim answered with much confidence. He never really pictured himself married, ever, and especially not in his teens, but he had never been more sure of anything in his entire life. The fact that Lacy was carrying his best friend's baby didn't even enter into the equation. He was to love his baby, whether it was biologically his or not.

"But what about the baby?" Brooke asked, motioning to Lacy's stomach. She knew it wasn't her place to be judging, this had nothing to do with her, but she chalked it up to her inner gossip queen. Personally, what Tim and Lacy did with their relationship didn't seem to concern her as much as it would have two weeks ago. At his point, the only relationship she cared about was her own and Haley's.

"I'm going to adopt it," Tim answered with a proud smile plastered on his face. Lacy couldn't help her own smile from coming to her lips as Tim wrapped an arm around her waist. "We're gonna be a family." Everyone in the room looked at them and let the information sink in for a minute.

"Good for you guys," Jake said, being the first one to speak. Next to congratulate was Lucas, followed by Brooke and Nathan. Nicki waited a moment longer before sighing and pulling her sister into a tight hug.

"I'm happy for you," she whispered into Lacy's ear. She wasn't sure if this was the vest decision her sister ever made, but if she was happy, than that was enough for her. They pulled apart when they heard a cell phone ringing. They all checked to see if it was theirs.

"It's mine," Brooke exclaimed, pulling her cell off her belt and flipping it open. She didn't recognize the number, but answered it anyway. "Hello?"

"Brooke?"

"Pey?" Brooke asked in surprise. She wasn't sure if it was the blonde, her voice was so shaky and hallow. After she received no response, she tried again. "Peyton, is that you? Where are you?"

"I'm at the hospital."

"Hospital?" Brooke repeated, the panic starting to rise in her voice. Everyone stopped their conversations when they heard the word. Lucas and Jake both went towards her. Luke laid a hand on her shoulder encase she needed the support, while Jake watched on, waiting for her to say something. All her knew was he heard his girlfriend's name and hospital. That was never good.

"Yeah."

"What's going on?" Brooke questioned. She still hadn't put the pieces together that Peyton had gone out searching for Haley. "Peyton, why are you at the hospital?"

"It's Haley," she stated. With those two words, Brooke felt all the air leave the room. She brought a hand to her stomach; afraid she might throw up and waited for her friend to continue. "I found her a couple hours ago, she was sitting out in the rain. She said she couldn't feel her legs, she was so blue and cold."

"Is she…"

"The doctors are working on her," Peyton answered, trying to remain calm. She couldn't break down, at least not alone. She could do it when Brooke and Jake got there. "She was unconscious the last time I saw her. I think she has hypothermia." Brooke's eyes traveled to the window and she watched the rain beat against the window and blowing the trees. "God, Brooke, please, you have to come down here. It feels like I can't breathe, I'm so scared."

"We're on our way," she answered before hanging up the phone. It wasn't until then that she noticed everyone's eyes on her. She knew they were all expecting answers, but she couldn't find the words. She just needed to get to the hospital and see Haley, to make sure she was alright with her own two eyes.

"What's going on?" Jake asked immediately. Brooke could hear the panic in his voice and it would have broken her heart if it hadn't already been done. Peyton was Jake's life; he would be destroyed if something happened to her. Just like she knew Nathan would be when he found out about Haley. She looked over at Nathan who was looking at her as well, but knew better than to ask her what happened.

"Brooke?" Lucas called once she had gone off into her own little world. She snapped out of her daze.

"Jake and Nathan," she stated, grabbing both their hands and pulling them towards her. "You're coming to the hospital with me." She looked at Lucas and Nicki. "You two stay here with Britney and Kevin."

"But…"

"I'll call when we get there," she said as she moved towards the door. Jake and Nathan quickly grabbed their coats and followed her out into the rain. They all piled into Nathan's car. Before he started, he turned into the back to look at her, expecting an answer.

"What's going on?" he asked. He was trying his hardest not to think about Haley. If he even thought about something happening to her, he would go crazy. This couldn't be about her, because if it was, then it was his entire fault. "Why are we going to the hospital?"

"Just get us there," she answered in a stern voice. Letting him come was against her better judgment for more than one reason. She was certain that Haley didn't want to see him and she certainly didn't want to be around him, but she knew Nathan needed to be there. She knew that despite everything that happened and everything he did, Nathan still loved Haley more than life itself. And that gave her a little hope for the future.

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That's all. Hope you enjoyed and are on the edge of your seats for the next chapter, which will come faster if you reply. Thanks.


	31. Hospital Visits and Little White Lies

_Author's Note:_ Hey. Nothing much to say. Just dropping by with a drive by update. Hope you guys like this. And I'm glad that you've been liking this so far. Please review.

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"Brooke, will you slow the hell down!"

The entire car ride over to the hospital consisted of Nathan and Jake begin Brooke to tell them what the hell was going on, but she managed to keep her mouth shut. All the boys knew was Peyton was at the hospital and that was enough to drive Jake insane. He was so overwhelmed with worry; he hadn't felt this scared since the first time Jenny got a cold. Nathan on the other hand was a lot calmer considering he didn't know it was Haley they were going to go see and Brooke wanted to keep it that way. Not only did she not want to have to deal with a distraught Nathan, she didn't want to have to be the one to tell him that Haley was hurt because she didn't think she would be able to stay mad at him when he looked at broken. So she kept them in the dark even as she ran down the main hallway of the small hospital with them jogging behind her.

"I need to get to Peyton," she called back. She was scared of how Peyton was handling all of this. When Brooke talked to her on the phone, she could tell that the blonde was already starting to freak out so she could just imagine what she's like now. Peyton was never good under this kind of stress.

"Oh God, it is her," Jake mumbled under his breath. He knew that Peyton went out looking for Haley, so he was aware that the person hurt could either be Haley or his girlfriend. Nathan heard his friend's words, and felt tremendously sorry for him. He had no idea what he would do if Haley were in the hospital.

"It'll be okay, man," he tried to assure him as they picked up speed to meet Brooke where she was standing at the front desk, talking to the nurse.

"What room is Haley James in?" Brooke asked just before Nathan and Jake got to her side. The nurse quickly typed in the name and waited for the number to come on the screen.

"She will be in room 203, but she's currently being worked on," the nurse answered her in what she hoped was a calming tone. Brooke let the horrible feeling wash over her as she heard those words. She tried to push the image of Haley on an operating table to the back of her mind. "She should be done within the hour, though."

"Okay," was all Brooke could get out at the moment. She did a quick sweep of the waiting room to find Peyton, but she couldn't spot her. Brooke decided she must be up in Haley's room. She took a deep breath and nodded. "Um, is that on the second floor?"

"It sure is," the nurse replied. With a quick thank you, the three teenagers were off, running towards the elevator. The ride up was silent with the exception of Brooke's quiet crying. As soon as she heard the ding, Brooke bolted out the door in the direction she hoped was the right on, Nathan and Jake following quickly behind her.

"Peyton!" she called out, looking around the hall for her friend. She glanced at all the room numbers; glad to see them getting smaller which meant they were going in the right direction.

"Brooke, slow down," Nathan called after her, afraid that she was going to either slip and crack her head open or run into a patient. He was really starting to get worried, if Brooke was freaking out this much, Peyton must really be in bad condition. Brooke ignored his warning and continued at her speed.

"Pey!" As soon as she rounded the corner she saw that familiar head of blonde hair. When she heard her name being called, Peyton turned her head and felt her stomach unclenched slightly when she saw Brooke barreling towards her. She jumped out of her seat and ran towards the brunette.

"Brooke," she cried. Within a second, they were wrapped in each other's arms and crying like there was no tomorrow, which they were terrified was true for their best friend. After a moment of hugging, Brooke pulled back and took Peyton's face in her hands.

"Are you okay, hun?" she asked, trying to wipe some of the tears off Peyton's face with the pad of her thumbs. Peyton bit her bottom lips in an attempt to hold back another round of tears and shook her head.

"She looked so small," Peyton told her, shaking slightly as she remembered what Haley looked like as the paramedics loaded her into the ambulance. "I'll never forget it for the rest of my life…"

"Peyton!" Jake exclaimed as he and Nathan finally came around the corner. He felt all the fear leave his body when he saw his girlfriend standing there, unharmed. She pulled away from Brooke at the sound of her boyfriend's voice.

"Jake?" she asked, confusion laced in her voice. She looked at him strangely as he came running towards her, looking like he was going to swallow her in his arms. He finally reached her and completely pushed Brooke out of the way as he gathered Peyton in his arms.

"God, I've never been happier to see you," he cried, tightening his hold on her. She wasn't sure what was going on, but she wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her hands in his shaggy hair. "I'm never letting you out of my sight again."

"Are you okay?" she asked in confusion, eyeing Brooke for answers. Brooke smiled sadly at her and moved to stand beside Nathan to watch the couple. Jake nodded his head, but didn't say anything. She pulled back slightly to look at his face and was a little surprised to see tears forming in his eyes. "Baby, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," he sighed, giving her a reassuring smile. He shook his head and pulled her back into a hug. "You're okay so I'm okay." Brooke and Nathan let the couple enjoy their moment for a moment longer before interrupting.

"So, what's going on exactly?" Nathan questioned, glancing at the couple before looking down at Brooke. Jake and Peyton pulled apart to look at him. Peyton's eyes start to water up again and she leans into Jake who is also looking at Brooke for answers. Then it dawns on him; Haley.

"Nathan," Brooke begins, turning towards him. He can tell by the look on her face and the tone in her voice the she's about to say something that was going to kill him. "I think you should sit down for this."

"Brooke, you're scaring me," he stated in a wavering voice. He already knew what was going on, for the most part. There was only one thing that could get Brooke and Peyton so worked up; if something was wrong with Haley. Not to mention the fact that they were both looking at him like he was a wounded puppy dog. "What's going on?"

"I really think you should…"

"Are you all here for Miss James?" came a voice from behind them. The four teens wiped around and came face to face with the doctor that held Haley's fate in his hands. Deciding that the other three wouldn't be able to speak up, Jake stepped forward, making sure he had a hold of Peyton's hand.

"That's us," he answered in a steady voice then he thought would come out. He half expected it to crack from his crying just a few moments before. "How is she doing?" The doctor looked at the teens skeptically, trying to decide if any of them were related to his patient.

"Is anyone here related to her?" he questioned. They all looked at each other, expected someone to speak up. They should have thought this up before they got there; they always ask for a family member.

"I am," Brooke volunteered, raising her hand slightly. She figured that she was the best bet considering more than a few people had mistake her and Haley for sisters. "She's my sister."

"Very well," he said with a nod. He glanced down at his clipboard and back up at Brooke. "If you'll just come with me, Miss James, I'll tell you how your sister is doing."

"Okay," Brooke replied. She glanced at her friends before following where the doctor was going a little ways down the hall. She rubbed Peyton's arm on her way by and sent her a sad smile. She didn't look back because she couldn't stand to see the broken look on Nathan's face.

"We'll be right here," Jake assured her, but she was already with the doctor down the hall. Brooke walked over on shaky legs and stood in front of the doctor to find out if Haley was going to live or not.

"So, what's the what, Doc?" she asked. It took all her strength not to cry in front of him, she was trying her hardest to seem cool, but she was literally dying inside. She prayed to whatever God there was that Haley was okay because there was no way she was going to be able to survive this if Haley wasn't.

"First," the doctor began, pushing his glasses to rest on the top of his head. "My name's Dr. Jordan Hayes, I will be your sister's doctor for the entire time she stays here."

"I'm Brooke," she replied, shaking hands with him. She could feel her friend's gazes on her back, but she tried to ignore them. "Is my sister going to be okay?"

"Yes, she'll be fine," was his answer. It was as if a huge rock had been lifted off Brooke's shoulders and she felt like she could finally breathe again for the fist time since she went looking for Haley. Just when Brooke was about to hug him, she remembered that okay was completely different for doctors than it was for family and friends.

"Define what you mean by fine," Brooke asked carefully, not wanting to get her hopes up only to have them shoot down when he tells her that Haley has some sort of brain damage. "Because when doctors say people are fine, they really mean they have broken bones or bruised brains or…"

"There's no catch, Miss James," the doctor insisted. He understood that she was nervous and very obviously worried about her sister, but he didn't need to be second-guessed like that. "I assure you, your sister is going to be just fine."

"Oh God," Brooke breathed out, a smile of pure happiness gracing her lips. "And you're one hundred percent sure that she's fine? And I mean perfectly fine, not even a scratch on her."

"Not a scratch," he repeated. The biggest and brightest smile he had even seen spread across Brooke's lips and it took all her self-control not to hug him. "Your friend over there, the blonde, she got your sister help just in time. She was just about to go into completely cardiac arrest when she got here. Another minute without medical service and she might not have been so lucky."

"Are you saying that she almost died?" The smile on Brooke's face slowly started to fade as she thought about what could have happened to Haley, about how worse this situation could be. The doctor looked at her sympathetically and nodded. He wished he hadn't said anything in the first place, but it was part of his job, as was what he was going to have to tell Brooke next. "God, Hales…"

"She did, actually," he said quietly, not sure of how Brooke would react to the news. If he had the choice, he would tell the family this when it happens to a patient, but it was hospital policy encase something were to go wrong later on in the recovery.

"What?"

"Technically and medically speaking, she did die," he explained slowly. He watched as Brooke's face fell completely and the little light he had seen her eyes vanished as if it were never there. "While we were getting her warmed up, we lost her for a few moments, but we got everything under control quickly enough and got her heart started again."

"But she did die?" Brooke asked. She didn't know why this was hurting her so much, it's not like Haley was still dead, she had been assured that Haley was alive and healthy, but just the thought that she had died, even for a minute, was more than Brooke could handle at the moment.

"Yes." Brooke nodded her head and fought to keep the tears in, but of course they won out and soon she was crying. Jordan glanced over her shoulder to the other three and noticed that they were all getting the wrong idea from Brooke's crying. "I think you're friends are starting to get worried."

"Yeah, probably," Brooke whispered, quickly wiping at her eyes to get the tears off her cheeks. Brooke sniffled, took a deep breath and looked back up at the good doctor. "So, we can all see her?"

"No more than two people in at a time," he instructed her. "While she is in stable condition and is doing fine, she's still really weak and needs as much rest as possible." Brooke nodded, still wiping her face dry. "She's out right now, so she won't be able to respond and I doubt she'll be able to hear you, but if you're that kind of person, feel free to talk to her, it usually helps."

"How long will she be out?"

"Most of the night, I think," Jordan answered. He caught sight of a nurse that was waving him over to check on one of his patients. He nodded, telling her that he'd be right there. "I have to go for now and check up on another patient, but you and your friends can take turns visiting with your sister."

"Thank you," she said. They both knew she was talking about more than just the permission to see Haley. She was thanking him for saving Haley's life and that was something she would be eternally grateful for. He nodded and slipped passed her, giving Nathan, Jake and Peyton and slight nod of the head as he walked by. He soon disappeared behind the door with the nurse. The gang waited all of three seconds before they rushed over and started bombarding her with questions.

"What did he say?" asked Jake.

"Is she okay?" Nathan begged.

"When can I see her?" questioned Peyton.

"Oh, all of you need to take a pill," she teased in a light tone. That was all the answer they needed; Haley was fine. Brooke would never be joking around if she weren't. Even if they knew the answer, Brooke knew they still needed to hear it in so many words. "He said she was going to be fine."

"Thank God," came the chorus of voices, all overpower the other. Brooke let out a laugh and gave them all a watery smile. Seeing how happy they all were, she just couldn't imagine what they all would have done if Haley hadn't been okay.

"Yeah," she wholeheartedly agreed. "He said they lost her for a few moments there, but she came back and everything's good now."

"She died?" Nathan asked, his voice just barely above a whisper. Peyton and Jake both looked to the ground, but Brooke forced herself to make eye contact with him. If her heart hadn't already been broken at the news, it would have been after seeing the look in his eyes. She had never seen him like that before, not ever. It was like someone had taken all the life out of him.

"A little bit," she answered quickly. "But they got her back really quick, it's like it never happened." Nathan didn't say anything, he didn't even nod; he just stared at the wall behind Brooke. She looked at him sympathetically for a moment, before she remembered what an ass he was and turned to talk to talk to Jake and Peyton. "The doc said we could go in and see her now, just two at a time though."

"I'm going," Peyton decided before anyone else had a chance. "I need to see her with my own eyes. After seeing her like she was… I need to do this or I'm never going to feel better." Brooke nodded her head even though she was never going to argue with her.

"Okay," Brooke replied, looking expectantly at Jake. "You wanna go in with her?" Jake glanced over at Nathan as he plopped down in one of the chairs. Nathan leaned forward and buried his face in his hands, letting out a puff of air. Jake looked at Peyton, silently asking if she'd be okay without him and she nodded, understanding what was going on.

"You go ahead," he said, speaking to Brooke, but looking at Nathan. "I'll just hang back here." Brooke nodded, glad she didn't have to deal with Nathan, and took Peyton's hand, leading her into the room Haley was in. Once the girls were gone, Jake walked over to Nathan and slumped down into the chair beside Nathan. "Hey."

"Hey."

"You okay, man?" Jake asked, eyeing Nathan with concern. For a moment there he actually thought he was crying, but that thought quickly disappeared when Nathan looked up at him with dry eyes.

"She died, Jake," he whispered, his voice full of raw emotion. Jake was taken aback by the shear volume of pain that could be heard in his voice. Jake didn't know what to say.

"Yeah, she did," he responded with a slight nod. "But she came back. She knew you were here waiting for her so she came back."

"But…"

"Dude, you gotta stop looking at the negative side," Jake suggested. "Haley is right inside that room, one hundred percent fine. Just focus on that." Nathan tore his gaze from the wall across from him and looked over at the door the girls had gone through. "Maybe this was the wake up call that both of you needed."

That thought had crossed Nathan's mind already. He realized when he found out that it was Haley that he would die if anything happened to her. It wasn't until he almost lost her that he realized he needed to do everything in his power to keep her with him. He had gone about getting her back all wrong; he needed to step up. He needed to do something for Haley that proved to her just how much he loved her and he knew just the thing.

"Yeah," Nathan mumbled, his eyes locked on the closed door that was the only thing keeping him from all that made him whole. "Maybe."

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All done. Hope you enjoyed it. Tell me what you thought and I'll update sooner. Later.


	32. The Wrath of Brooke Davis

_Author's Note:_ Hey everyone. Thanks so much to all of those that updated, and this one goes out to Lizzie. Hope you like it and please tell me what you guys think. Enjoy.

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"Dude, where are you going?"

Neither Nathan nor Jake had said a word since Jake had calmed Nathan down a bit. What Jake said really made sense to Nathan and it really hit home. The worry and fear that had set over him when he found out that Haley was hurt, it was something that he had never felt before. It was this mind numbingly terrified feeling that Haley might not be okay that made him feel weak in the knees. He was positive that if he wasn't sitting down right now, just remembering the feeling might have made him collapse. This was exactly what he needed to get his ass in gear and get Haley back. In that single moment, he had hit rock bottom. He felt as if he had lost everything, and he hated to lose.

"I can't be here," Nathan answered, standing up straight from his seat. He ran a hand over his face and let out a breath for frustration. Jake looked back down to meet the surprised face of his friend. "I just, I can't."

"What are you talking about, man?" Jake questioned. When he saw Nathan get up, he assumed it was because he couldn't stand to wait any longer to see Haley. He couldn't believe that Nathan was just going to walk away. "If it was Peyton in there, wild horse couldn't drag me away."

"Yeah, well, Peyton still loves you," Nathan shot back. He didn't like what Jake was trying to insinuate about his motives for leaving. 

"Haley loves you too," Jake tried to tell him. He understood where Nathan was coming from, it was obvious that Haley was angry at him, maybe she even hated him, but there wasn't an ounce in her that didn't still love Nathan. Nathan rolled his eyes and shook his head. "I'm telling you, Nathan, it's true."

"Well, she shouldn't." It Nathan was really being honest with himself; he knew that Haley still loved him. What they shared over the past year was something that couldn't be that easily erased from either of their memories. "I know that, and so does she."

"Nathan…"

"Maybe she does still love me," Nathan cut him off. He shoved his hands in his pockets and started to pace back and forth. "But I know she doesn't want to. I know Haley, better than I know myself right now, and I know that she hates the way she's feeling right now. If she didn't love me than she wouldn't have run out of Brooke's cabin when I came in with Nicki."

"Did I mention what a smart move that was?" Jake replied, trying to lighten the mood. Nathan, despite himself, had to laugh. He stopped pacing to look at Jake, expecting to find hate in his eyes, but only found sympathy. He sighed and plopped back down in his chair.

"I know," he mumbled. "I never should have brought her up here."

"You never should have come in the first place," Jake pointed out. As much as he wanted to be a good friend to Nathan, he still couldn't' believe that he had the nerve to weasel in an invitation. "What exactly were you thinking when you manipulated Tim into giving up their spots?"

"I didn't think she'd be here," Nathan admitted, the excuse sounding lame even to his ears. Even though it was true, he didn't think Haley would have still gone up, he still shouldn't have crashed their party. "Luke said that she was still mad at Pey, so I didn't think she would want to spend the entire weekend with her."

"Still, man," Jake laughed, slapping Nathan goodheartedly on the back. "You knew Peyton and Brooke were going to be there, you had to know that they didn't want you there. Have you not been around those two before? They're like mother bears and Haley's their cub, you don't mess with them and keep your balls."

"Believe me, I know that." Nathan shook his head and stood back up. He knew that Jake meant well, and he was even making sense, but Nathan still didn't feel right being there. "Look, I appreciate you trying to help and all, but I still think I should leave."

"She'd want you to be here."

"No she wouldn't," Nathan disagreed with him. As much as it hurt him to admit it, he knew that Haley didn't want him there. "When she wakes up, she's not going to want to see my face, trust me on this, man. It's better that I go, give Haley her space or whatever."

"At least go in and see her," Jake suggested. He may not show it as much as his girlfriend, but he was really worried about Haley as well. Ever since she had come to him that afternoon, he hadn't seen her since. He only knew what Brooke told Peyton, and that wasn't much. "I really think she'd appreciate it."

"I guess," Nathan sighed. He glance over at the door to Haley's room and his eyes locked on it. He wanted to see Haley, nothing would make him real better, but he didn't want to see her like that. She would be so small and weak, and he didn't want to have to see that. But, he knew Jake was right, Haley would be upset if he didn't got in at all, so he put his own wants aside. "I'll, ah, I'll be right back."

"Take as long as you." Nathan nodded and took slow steps towards the door. He took a deep breath and knocked softly on the door, before pushing it open slightly to find Brooke sitting in a chair beside Haley's bed and Peyton nowhere in sight.

"Hey," he greeted in a soft voice. He could tell by the look in Brooke's eyes when they were in the hall that she still hated him, so he decided it would be best to take a slow approach. The cheerleader didn't even acknowledge his presence as she continued to gaze at Haley's pale face and stroke the back for her cold hand.

"Hey," she greeted back once she realized that she couldn't ignore him forever. She gave him a quick look before letting her gaze fall back on her best friend's face. "What took you so long?"

"What do you mean?" he asked, leaving the doorframe to venture further into the room. He pulled out the chair that was on the other side of Haley's bed and sat down in it.

"I figured you'd have come in by now," she explained. She leaned back into her seat so she was in a more comfortable position, but she didn't let go of Haley's hand. He torn his gaze from Haley's fluttering eyes to look at her face, trying to see if she was waiting for an answer. Deciding that she wasn't, he changed subjects.

"Where's Pey?" he asked as he looked around the room. She had come in with Brooke and he didn't see her leave. If he didn't know any better, he could have sworn he saw a smile grace her lips even if it was just for a split second.

"She's over there," Brooke answered, pointing to the curtain that was drawn behind him. He shifted in his seat so he could look behind him. He pulled the material over slightly and glanced behind it to see the blonde sprawled out on the hospital bed, her back facing him.

"I figured she's stay up with Hales all night," Nathan mused. He knew how close Haley and Peyton were, and he knew the Peyton was the kind of person to worry about stuff like this. Especially with the way Peyton was insisted on coming in first, he assumed she'd be sitting by the bedside like Brooke. "Make sure she's okay and all."

"I made her crash," Brooke answered. She was worried about Haley, but she was worried about Peyton too. They had both been out in the rain and cold for quite a long time and she thought some sleep would do Peyton good. Nathan looked at her, clearly impressed that she got Peyton to listen to her. "She refused at first, but she was out like a light the second her head hit the pillow."

"She needs it," Nathan agreed, letting the sheet fall back into place and turning back to the brunette. Brooke nodded and silence fell over them. Nathan looked down at his shoes, finding it too hard to look at Haley's beautiful face the way it was. He cleared his throat and met Brooke's gaze. "I just wanted to come in quickly."

"I know," Brooke told him. As much as she hated Nathan right now and even though she thought he was being a complete dumbass over the last month or so, she knew that he wasn't as stupid as he was trying to come across. "And I think it's the right thing to do. She wouldn't want to see you."

"No, she wouldn't." He had to admit, he was surprised that Brooke understand what he was saying. He was certain that she was going to react the way Jake did and try to convince him to stay.

"And I don't want you here either," she stated in a calm voice, but he could tell that there was pure anger just beneath the surface. "I personally can't even stomach looking at you right now." Brooke looked down at Haley's face again before looking back up at him. "She's in here because of you. She died, Nathan, she was dead and it was all your fault."

"You think I don't know that?" he exploded. He was trying his best to stay calm, but that never did seem to work well for him. "You don't think this is eating me up inside right now? To know that I almost got Haley killed."

"I don't really give a damn how you feel right now, Nathan," Brooke snapped at him. She was sick to death of him and she just didn't have the patience to deal with his crap right now. Right now, her attention and concerns were focused solely on her best friend.

"Oh, come off it, Br…" 

"How do you think Haley felt when she got that phone call from Lacy's doctor?" she questioned. "How do you think Peyton felt when you put her in an impossible position? Or when she was watching Haley die right in front of her?" Nathan rolled his eyes. This was typical Brooke, to lay on the guilt when she was scared about something. "Or me and Luke when we were scared out of our minds thinking that Haley was lying dead somewhere out there?"

"You think you're the only ones that care about her?" he demanded, jumping out of his seat so he was standing over her. Brooke wasn't scared at all, she held her ground and locked her eyes on him, holding his gaze and not backing down. "I love her more than anything, more than you could ever love her…"

"Don't you dare," she hissed, her eyes showing hatred that Nathan had never seen before, not even when he dumped Haley did she look at him like that. "You have no idea how much I love her because you are incapable of that emotion. You insist that you love her and then you turn around and screw the first whore you meet."

"Go to hell, Brooke," he shot back, trying his hardest not to let her words affect him. He fought against everything in his body and mind that were telling him that she was right. When he saw that she was going to say something else, he quickly cut her off. "Forget this. I'm outta here." Ignoring the look of hatred on her face, he leaned down and kissed Haley gently in the cheek, whispering in her ear; "Wake up soon, baby."

"You better be gone when we get back there," Brooke informed him referring to the cabin. "And you can take your dirty little ho with you."

"Whatever, Brooke," he muttered, stalking over to the door and pushing it opened with such force that it slammed against the wall on the outside. Jake jumped at the noise and was surprised to find a pissed off Nathan walked right past him without a word.

"Nathan, what happened?" he called out. When Nathan neither stopped nor responded, he stood up and took a few steps to go after him, but stopped when he remembered Peyton.

"Leave me alone, Jake," was all Nathan said back to him as he kept walking.

"Just wait a minute," Jake asked, in a pleading voice. He wanted to know what happened, and it seemed that Nathan wasn't going to be giving him any answers so he would have to go to Brooke. "I'll go back with you, just give me a minute."

"Whatever," Nathan repeated, turning the corner and disappearing from Jake's sight. Jake watched after him for a moment, before quickly making his way into the room the girls were in. He pushed open the doors roughly to find Brooke looking just as angry as Nathan did.

"What the hell happened?" he demanded, looking around to find his girlfriend. He saw the curtain drawn and figured she was behind there. "What did you say to him?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Brooke snapped. Brooke could hear all the accusations in his voice a mile away and she didn't like it one bit. "He had the nerve to come in here after what he did to Haley and try and make nice with me. What do you think I said to him?"

"He feels horrible over what he did," Jake exclaimed, pissed off at Brooke for ruin what could have been a breakthrough for Nathan. "He came in here to try and make it right and you go off on him?"

"Of course I did," Brooke shot back. She could not believe that Jake of all people was sticking up for that son of a bitch. "Why are you standing up for him?"

"Why are you being such a bitch to him?" he countered. He knew in his head that what Nathan did was wrong and almost unforgivable, but he knew what it was like to make a mistake so he thought that Nathan's deserved another chance. "He made a mistake, it was a horrible thing to do and Haley didn't deserve to be treated that way, but he's sorry about it."

"Who cares if he's sorry?" Brooke was starting to think she was going crazy. Was she the only one that remembered what Nathan did to Haley? It seemed like everyone was just forgetting about it because they felt sorry for him because he's ex-girlfriend was in the hospital. "He obviously wasn't sorry enough since he brought Nicki up to the cabin this weekend, knowing full and well what it would do to Haley."

"He didn't know she was going to be there!" 

"You know what, Jake, I don't care," Brooke stated. She was not going to have this conversation again. Nathan was a jackass and nothing anyone said was going to change that. "Follow the Man Code or whatever and take Nathan's side, just remember who's the one in the hospital."

"He didn't mean to hurt her," Jake insisted. There was a part of him that couldn't believe he was taking Nathan's side about all of this, but after seeing the way Nathan was acting in the hall, he knew that Nathan was falling apart over what he had done.

"He screwed around on her and flaunted some whore in her face less than week after they broke up!" It took everything Brooke had in her to not attack Jake right on the spot for all the things he was saying. Jake was supposed to be the sensible one, the nice guy that would never do something like Nathan did. "He's an ass and if you're sticking up for him than you're an ass too."

"You're overreacting, Brooke." All Jake wanted was for her to give Nathan a chance. He knew that if Nathan talked to Haley then she would take him back, but if Brooke was acting this way than she wouldn't let Haley even speak to him. 

"Haley medically died, Jake, because of something he did," Brooke reminded him with an edge to her voice. "I really don't think I'm overreacting here. In fact, I think I'm reacting exactly the right amount."

"I can't talk to you when you're like this."

"When I'm right?" Their eyes were locked and neither of them was willing to back down. Finally Jake had had enough and turned to walk out. "I don't know what happened to you or how Nathan's brainwashed you, but tell him that if he ever tries to talk to Haley again, I will personally castrate him."

"I don't know why you're fighting this so much," Jake responded without turning around. "Haley's supposed to be your best friend, I thought you'd want to see her happy."

"There is nothing I want more…"

"Well, Nathan makes her happy," he stated, glancing over his shoulder. "She's never going to be happy with any other guy. Just give him another chance." With that said, he pushed open the door and out left the room, going to meet up with Nathan downstairs.

Brooke said stalk still in her chair, thinking over what Jake had just said to her. There was no denying the fact that Nathan used to make Haley happy, used to being the key words, but now all he did was make her miserable. Her eyes wandered down to rest on Haley's face. Just as she was about to reach out and touch her face, Haley eyes slowly started to flutter open.

"Hales?" she whispered, not wanting to scare the girl. She pulled her seat closer and squeezed Haley's hand tighter. At the sound of her voice, Haley tired to focus her eyes to see the face it belonged to.

"Tigger?"

"Yeah, baby," Brooke cried, a smile on her face for the first time since Nathan stepped foot in the room. "I'm here. Me and Pey are right here." 

"Nathan?" Haley choked out, trying to scan the room for her ex-boyfriend. She quickly regretted it when the motion caused a sharp pain in between her eyes and she immediately shut them again. "Is he here?"

"No, sweetie, he's not." Brooke wasn't sure what answer Haley was looking for, but she knew she couldn't lie. Haley let Brooke's words wash over her as she herself tried to decide which answer she wanted.

"Oh," Haley sighed. He thought about the last time she saw his face and heard his voice. He was smiling and laughing with another woman. That was all Haley needed to know her answer. "Good."

**---OTH---**

That's all. I hope that you all enjoyed. There isn't much to say, really. Please, please review. Thanks.


	33. We've All Made Mistakes

_Author's Note_: Hey all. I'm here so soon, surprised, right? Well, you can blame/thank Lizzie for that. So, this one goes out to her and Punk, because they were so good today.

**--OTH--**

"What did she say to you?"

After Jake had left Haley's hospital room, he ran full speed down to the ground floor to try to catch up with Nathan. To his surprise, his friend was actually waiting for him like he asked. He found Nathan leaning up against the side of his car in the pouring rain, just staring off into space. To Jake it looked like he was almost about to cry. He didn't, though. He just asked if Jake was ready to go before getting into the car and driving off. The first part of the ride was made in silence; both boys were lost in their own thoughts about their conversations with Brooke. Finally, after Jake couldn't take the quiet anymore.

"Nothing I didn't deserve," Nathan answered in a monotone voice. When he was waiting for Jake, it had given him some time to think about what she had said to him, and it all made sense. Everything that Brooke said was nothing but true, he just didn't want to admit it.

"Nobody deserves the wrath of Brooke, man," Jake replied, eyeing him before looking back out the window. He knew that Nathan was having some kind of revelation about where his life was headed so he didn't want to disturb him, but he just had to know. "Especially when she's like that."

"No," Nathan answered, never taking his eyes off the road. "I deserve a lot more."

"Okay, seriously," Jake began, shifting in his seat so he was giving Nathan his full attention. He had never seen Nathan like this before; he was so remorseful. He wasn't even this bad when he and Haley broke up. "What did she say to you that got you all creepy?"

"She just told me a bunch of stuff that I really needed to hear," Nathan answered, glancing at Jake quickly before looking back ahead of him. He flexed his fingers out, trying to get them comfortable on the smooth leather of the stirring wheel, but it was no use since his hands were wet.

"Such as…"

"That this was all my fault." Nathan didn't want Jake to say anything; there was nothing he could say. Whatever he said wasn't going to make this any less his fault. "When I was in there, I was so pissed off that she had the nerve to blame this all on me, but then I realized that she was right. This is all my fault."

"Not everything is your fault, Nathan," Jake told him in what he hoped was an assuring voice. Nathan shook his head at his friend, telling him not to bother lying about it. They both knew it was true.

"But it is and I'll admit that," Nathan continued in a steady voice. "I'm the one that cheated on Haley and got Lacy pregnant. I manipulated Peyton and Brooke into keeping it a secret and it all blew up in my face."

"Those were all mistake," Jake insisted in a hopeful voice. Nathan narrowed his eyes a bit and looked at him strangely, trying to figure out why Jake was being so persistent about the whole thing. "We all make mistakes."

"It would have been a mistake if it had happened once," Nathan explained, reaching forward to turn up the air condition a couple notches. It had suddenly gotten very hot in there. "I sleep with other woman almost every week. God, I could have countless other kids on the way. I worked so hard at trying to hide it… you can't count that kind of stuff as a mistake. It's just too much."

"So that's it?" Jake questioned in a surprised tone. He had known Nathan Scott for a long time. Granted, they weren't always friends, but he knew how guys like him worked. He was never on to just give up, especially when it came to something this important to him. "You're just going to give up on your relationship with her? You're just going to let her go."

"No," Nathan answered rather quickly. It was a question that didn't even require thinking. He could never give up on Haley, not ever. Even feeling this way, there was just something inside of him that was telling him he was going to have to. What he did was almost unforgivable and it looked like for the first time in his entire life, Nathan Scott was going to know defeat. "Not yet, anyway."

"Then you can't just let Brooke win like that," Jake pointed out. He didn't know why he was so set on getting Nathan and Haley back together all of a sudden. Maybe it was the guilt of seeing Nicki again, but he felt that if he could get Haley to forgive Nathan for what he did to her than Peyton would be able to forgive him for what he did. "Why did you let her kick you out?"

"I didn't let her kick me out, Jaglieski," Nathan snapped, finally letting the anger of the situation get to him. He had to agree with Jake, he was surprised that he had just left Haley's room like that; he didn't even fight her on it. He just left. "I left."

"You left?" Jake asked. He couldn't imagine Nathan ever leaving Haley's side when she obviously needed him. Nathan rolled his eyes and nodded. "You just left her?"

"That's what I said," he snapped again. "I mean, yeah, Brooke bitched at me and told me to get out, but we both know that I never listen to anything that Brooke says."

"Then why'd you…"

"I don't know, I just…" Nathan trailed off, trying to find the words to explain his strange actions. He wasn't good at this kind of thing; he never even had talks like this with Haley. He just wasn't the kind of guy that liked to talk about his feelings a lot. "I just couldn't be there. I don't know what it was, but it felt really wrong to be in there."

"Why would it feel wrong?" Jake asked, letting his confusion show in his voice loud and clear. "I mean, you should be in there, she's your girlfriend."

"But she's not," Nathan corrected. "Not anymore. I ended it with her and for good reasons. The fact that she's in the hospital doesn't change that. I had no right to be in there and it didn't real right. So I bailed."

"This is ridiculous, you know that right?" Jake asked, shaking his head. Nathan was taken aback by his response and glanced over at him. "It was a mistake. Yeah, it looks bad because you tried to cover it up, but you just wanted to keep her safe. You didn't want her hurt." Nathan raised an eyebrow, shifting in his seat uncomfortably.

"I still shouldn't have…"

"You thought you were doing what was best for her, right?" Jake asked, completely ignoring Nathan's attempt at saying something. Nathan decided that this was officially not about him anymore. "You tried covering it up, but it didn't work. It just came back up to bite you in the ass and now you wished you had just come clean in the first place…"

"Jake!" Nathan couldn't take his babbling any longer. Jake jumped at the loud call, having been lost in his thoughts as he was rambling on. He blinked a couple times and looked at Nathan.

"Yeah?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Nathan asked. "Because clearly, you are talking about something that concerns you." Jake looked at Nathan, trying to decide if he should explain or not. Even now, he and Nathan weren't really that close. When the guys hung out, it was usually him and Lucas together then Tim and Nathan together. He finally just let out a huge puff of breath, deciding that he needed to tell someone before he passed out.

"Okay," Jake sighed, taking a deep breath. He stretched out his hands, rubbing them over his jeans in an attempt to wipe some of the sweat off them. "You know how I said that Nicki was Jenny's mom?"

"Kinda hard to forget," Nathan commented in a light tone. He was starting to regret asking Jake what was wrong. He wasn't good at talking about his feelings, but he was even worse when it came to talking about someone else's feelings.

"Yeah, I guess," Jake nodded, laughing nervously. The car drove down the wet road, the only sound inside was the wheels as they rolled along the damp pavement. "Well, she's…uh, she's more… more than just Jenny's mom."

"What?" Nathan questioned. "You got another kid with her or something?"

"No, uh, no," Jake said, stumbling over his words. He was doomed. If he was having this much trouble telling Nathan, what was he supposed to do when he finally told Peyton? "No, Jenny's the only one."

"Would you just spit it out then?" The silence stretched out between them, both finding it better than conversation. Jake glanced at Nathan, before losing his nerve and turning his head back around to look out the windshield.

"She's kind of my wife."

**--OTH--**

"You're happy he's not here?" Brooke questioned, surprised at the reaction she received from Haley when she was told that Nathan wasn't there. Despite what she had said to Nathan, she actually did think that Haley would've wanted him to be there when she woke up. The only reason she kicked him out was because she didn't want him to be there when Haley woke up.

"Yeah," Haley answered, her voice cracking a bit. She tried to say more, but she soon found that it hurt too much to talk. She had a major headache and her throat felt dry. "Water."

"Huh?" Brooke was expecting an explanation as to why she didn't want Nathan in there so the question had thrown her off some. Haley cleared her throat.

"Water," she repeated. Brooke's eyes widened, getting the message and she leapt from her chair.

"Right, sorry." She fumbled around the room, making her way over to the sink that was in the corner. On her way past, she gave Peyton's bed a swift kick that was sure to wake the blonde. Peyton was awake immediately, looking around the room.

"Haley!" she called out, still remembering the nightmare she had been having. Brooke jumped at the scream and almost dropped the cup. When Brooke caught her breath, she turned off the tap and turned to face her friend.

"She's over there," Brooke informed her, walking towards Haley's bed, pulling the curtain back on her way by. At the sight of Haley, Peyton let out a squeal and jumped off the bed, running over to Haley's side.

"Hales," she cried, coming to a halt before she could crash into the metal siding of the bed. Haley gave her a weak smile when the blonde took a hold of her hand.

"Slow down there, Goldilocks," Brooke teased, taking her seat again. She leaned forward so she was on the edge of her seat and brought the cup of water to Haley's lips. She held it there for a moment as Haley took a few sips before carefully pulling it away. "Better?"

"Yeah," Haley said, her voice already closer to its normal volume. She gulped a couple times to clear her throat and licked some of the excess water that hadn't made it into her mouth. "Thanks."

"No problem, baby," Brooke told her, with a wave of her hand. She set the cup on the table beside the bed encase Haley wanted more later. "How're you feeling?"

"Like crap," she answered with a slight groan. Testing out her ability to move, she tried lifting her arms and was happy to find that they were already fully functional. Brooke smiled, feeling Haley's hand move under her's. Haley turned over to greet Peyton, who hadn't said much. "What 'bout you?"

"Oh, I'm fine," Peyton answered with a nervous laugh. She shook her head when she saw the doubtful look on Haley's face. "Other than the fact that you scared the crap out of me out there."

"Sorry," Haley mumbled, feeling bad that she worried her best friend like that. She had no idea what she would have done if she had been in Peyton's position. She wasn't so sure they'd be sitting there now.

"Don't be silly," Peyton replied, shaking her head again. She lifted up Haley hand and kissed it. She felt a whole new wave of relief when she felt how warm Haley's hands were. She could remember vividly how cold Haley's skin had felt against her lips before. "I'm just so happy that you're alright."

"Thanks to you," Haley told her. Brooke watched the scene from her chair, but didn't say anything, deciding that they needed to have their moment. Peyton's eyes wandered down to the floor for a moment, trying to decide whether to bring it up or not. She took a deep breath and looked up.

"Look, Hales," she began, dropping their hands back to the bed. "When we were out there, you said that you forgave me for everything. I don't want you to feel like you have to stick with that now that you're still here. I mean, I understand that you just said it because there was a chance that we might of died and you didn't want to go being mad at me…"

"Pey," Haley interrupted her. "I meant it, okay? I forgive you. I really do." Peyton looked at her surprised at her words. Haley laughed lightly at the look on her face and Brooke had to smirk at it too. "Just promise that next time you know something that involves me, you'll tell me about it."

"Done." They shared a smile. "I really am sorry about everything that I did. I should have told you right away and I promise to do that if something like this every happens again."

"I know you will," Haley laughed. She was glad that she and Peyton were good again. It's not that she ever doubted that they would make up, she was just glad that it didn't go on for very long. She really did need her friends right now.

"I love you, Hales," Peyton cried, reaching up and bringing Haley into a gentle hug, being careful not to hurt her. Haley sought out the comfort and let herself relax in Peyton's arms for a little while.

"Love you, too." Brooke watched the scene with a huge smile plastered on her face. She was so glad that they were friends again. She hated it when they fought, she felt so stuck in the middle and hated to choose sides. Even though there wasn't really any question on who's side to take in this one, she still felt torn whenever they weren't speaking.

"Oh, I see how it is," she commented in a voice full of fake hurt. The girls pulled apart at the sound of her voice and turned to look at her to see what her problem was. "There's no extra love for the Brookester, or what?"

"Aw," Haley sighed, finishing it off with a pout. "You know we love you, Brookie."

"Yeah, I know," Brooke beamed, a cheesy smile coming back to her lips, one that flashed her adorable dimples. "Everyone does after all." Peyton and Haley rolled their eyes at their best friend and scooted over so she could get up on the bed too. Brooke laughed and snuggled into Haley's other side, giving her a wet kiss on the cheek.

Of course the bliss of the moment didn't last long as Brooke and Peyton started bickering over space and kept telling the other to move their fat ass. Haley didn't hear a word of it though. She just leaned back and enjoyed the feeling of being loved and wanted. Both were things that she wasn't getting from any other relationships.

Haley's smile dimmed a bit at the thought. She had gone on almost five minutes without thinking about Nathan and that was a record as of late. She didn't like thinking about him all the time; it was much better when she forgot about it and all the drama that came with him. She liked that feeling of being loved and wanted, it was something that she felt every person deserved to feel. And there was only one way to get that feeling again. She suddenly knew exactly what she had to do.

**--OTH--**

Hope you liked. I'm expecting a nice review, Lizzie and from all of you. Peace.


	34. Healing Hands and Bear Hugs

_Author's Note:_ Okay. I'm kinda on a major high right now, due to the cutest picture ever, so I figured that I'd drop of an update. I hope you guys like this one. Enjoy.

**--OTH--**

"And you're sure that they're gone?"

The night at the hospital had gone by quickly for the girls. They stayed up all night, just talking and laughing about old times. Haley's doctor had come in a couple times to tell them to get some rest, but of course they didn't listen. Lucas had called around six, telling them he would be there to pick them up as soon as Haley was released at noon that day. When Brooke talked to him, she made sure to tell him that Jake was not to come with him. During the night, Brooke had told Peyton about her argument with Jake so now the blonde wasn't exactly too excited to see her boyfriend either.

"Yeah, I saw them leave not more than two hours ago," Lucas promised Brooke, glancing at his girlfriend for a moment before letting his eyes drift back to the road. Since he figured it would be crowded in Brooke little car, he decided on taking Jake's car to go and pick them up.

"You kicked them out?" Peyton questioned from her position in the back seat of the car beside Haley, who was looking more than a little sleepy. "Cause, I have to say that I'm sorry I missed that."

"Actually, it was Nathan's decision," Luke explained, still confused at the way things went last night. When Jake and Nathan came back, neither boy would talk so he wasn't sure what was going on. "When I woke up this morning, him and Nicki were getting breakfast before they left."

"That's surprisingly considerate of him," Haley mumbled, only half listening to the conversation. All she needed to know was that Nathan and Nicki weren't going to be there and that was all that mattered to her at the moment. Neither Brooke nor Lucas heard it from the front seats, but Peyton smirked at the comment.

"He just said that he made a huge mistake by coming here," Luke retold, blinking a few times in an attempt to shake the creepy feeling he got when he saw the look in Nathan's eyes. He had never seen his brother look so upset and regretful before. "And he wanted me to tell you that he's really sorry."

"I'll bet he is," Haley said, this time loud enough for her friends in the front seat to hear. Brooke nodded her head, finding it hard to believe that the Nathan Scott would apologize to anyone about anything.

"What about Britney and Kevin?" Brooke asked, knowing that Haley originally didn't want to see Lacy either. She understood that it must be hard for her friend, to have to see the woman that is having your boyfriend's baby, but she couldn't help but feel a little sorry for the poor girl. After all, Lacy really didn't do anything wrong, so it wasn't fair that she lose a good friend over this.

"The newlyweds are still at the cabin with Jake," Lucas answered hesitantly. He also knew that Haley probably still didn't want to see Lacy, but there was nothing he could do.

"Tim and Lacy are still there?"

"Yeah, sorry, Hales," Luke replied with a sad smile, looking at her through the rear view mirror. He had to admit, she looked a lot better than he thought she would. When he found out what had happened to her, he was afraid of how bad she might look. "I tried to get them to leave, even Lacy knew she shouldn't be there, but Tim refused to leave until he saw that you were okay."

"Aw," both Peyton and Brooke gushed at the same time. They had to admit, even though he was Tim and more often than not he was an idiot, he did havemoments where he could be the sweetest guy in the world.

"That's so cute," Haley even admitted. She always liked Tim. He was Nathan's best friend, and she always felt bad for the way Nathan treated him. Haley had always thought that if he just stopped living in Nathan's shadow, he could be a really cool guy on his own.

"You'll have to give him a big hug and kiss when we get back," Peyton said, throwing Haley an amused grin. She too thought he was just a harmless cutie and was glad that he had finally found a girl that made him happy. Now, she just wished Haley could do the same.

"Yeah," Haley said with a grin. "I'll be sure to do that." As much as she was dreading seeing Lacy, she was starting to think that it might not be as bad as she thought. She still didn't want them staying the weekend or anything, but maybe seeing Lacy wouldn't be the end of the world. Plus, it's not like she was seven months pregnant, she wouldn't even be able to tell that the blonde was having a baby.

"Is Jake still there?" Brooke asked, attempting to keep the anger out of her voice. It didn't matter if she was angry with him; he was still Peyton's boyfriend so she was going to have to control herself. That was the one good thing about the Nathan and Haley break up; now she could bitch at Nathan all she wanted without having to worry about her best friend getting upset about it. "Cause I would hope that he got the message from our little conversation."

"He's there," Luke nodded, rolling his eyes at Brooke's attitude. He loved her to death, but even he couldn't argue the fact that Brooke could be a bitch. Hell, she was one of the biggest, if not the biggest, bitch he had ever meet. "He's acting kind of weird though."

"Weird?" Peyton questioned, surprised at the word Lucas used to describe her boyfriend's mood. Sure, Jake could act a little strange, but usually not so much that someone as obliviously as Lucas could tell. Then again, yelling at Brooke that way he did was very out of character as well. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know," Luke answered. "He was just really quiet last night. When he and Nathan came back, neither of them said a word, just went straight to bed. Something definitely went down between them in the car ride home."

"Maybe they're lovers," Brooke guessed with a funny smirk on her face, dimples in full swing. She turned around in her chair so she was looking at Haley. "I mean, if the guy could give up someone as sexy as you, he'd have to be gay."

"Thanks, Tigger," Haley said with a sad smile. Brooke smiled back at her and winked, telling her that everything would be okay. Haley would never know how she did it, but Brooke could always tell what she was thinking and always found a way to make her feel better. "You're a sweetheart."

"I know," Brooke said, brushing it off like it was nothing. She blew Haley a kiss and glanced at her blonde friend sitting behind her. "Not to mention the fact that P. Sawyer could turn anyone gay…"

"Do not make me smack you," Peyton warned with a giggle. She could tell that Brooke wasn't being serious, that it was all an attempt to keep Haley's mind off of a certain Scott brother. Peyton was more than willing to take a little teasing if it would make Haley feel even a little bit better.

"As much as I love chick fights," Luke interrupted before Peyton could swat Brooke in the back of the head. "I'm gonna have to ask you to stop since I'm driving down a wet road in Jake's piece of crap car. I don't think it will do me any good if you two are going at it."

"Alright," Peyton gave in.

"Ruin my fun."

The remaining part of the short drive was spent singing along to old pop music that Brooke had found in the glove compartment of the car. After finding a Spice Girls cassette buried in the back and agreements to make fun of Jake's old musictaste when they got back, they finally arrived at the cabin. Luke carefully pulled the car back into its parking spot and they started to get out. Before Peyton and Brooke had a chance to help Haley out of the car, the door of the cabin burst open and Tim came charging out.

"You're alive!" he screamed, running towards them at full speed. He spread open his arms to as he ran, preparing to smother Haley in a bone crushing hug. Just as he was no more than a foot away from her, Luke reached out and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, holding him in place.

"Slow down there," he suggested, using his other hand to get a better grip on his friend's shirt.

"Dude!" Tim shrieked, struggling against his grip to get free. All he wanted to do was give Haley a hug; he didn't understand why Lucas was stopping him. "Let me go!"

"Not until you calm down," Lucas told him, talking to him like he was a five year old who refused to eat his vegetables. The girls watched them with amusement, huge smiles on all three of their faces. Nothing made them feel better than some Tim Time, though they'd never tell him that.

"I am calm," Tim protested. He grabbed at Luke's hands, trying to prey them off of his shirt. When that didn't work, he started kicking at his shins. Finally, he gave up and slumped his shoulders, signaling that he was calm. "There, are you happy?"

"I was just trying to protect Haley," Luke explained, biting his bottom lip to stop from laughing. He glanced back at the giggling girls before turning back to Tim. "I mean, the poor girl just got out of the hospital and you were barreling towards her at full speed. It wasn't going to end well."

"Yeah, I guess," Tim mumbled. He pushed Lucas before darting away from him and towards the girls. He slowly walked up to Haley and gently wrapped his arms around her and brought her into a hug, lifting her off the ground a foot or two.

"Hey, Timmy," she laughed, finding the way he was acting to be unbelievably sweet. Normally she would have felt weird, what being crushed in a Tim hug and all, but right now, after everything that happened, it felt really good. She was happy that she wasn't alone; she still had great friends.

"I'm glad you're okay, Hales," Tim whispered into her ear. He would never admit it to anyone, but his friends were his family and there was nothing more important to him than family. "You gave us all a big scare."

"Sorry," Haley mumbled, pulling out of his arms and giving him a kiss on the cheek. "So, I hear Lacy made an honest man out of you?"

"No, I don't think so," Tim answered, his eyebrows scrunched up in the cutest way as he tried to figure out what she was talking about. After giving it a little thought, he shook his head. "Oh, but we did get married." Brooke and Peyton laughed and shook their heads.

"Just when I was starting to think we were wrong about him," Brooke commented as she linked arms with Haley on one side, Peyton taking the other. "As cute as this little display is, I think we should get Hales off her feet. She didn't get any sleep last night."

"And who's fault was that?" Haley asked as they led her towards the steps of the cabin. Brooke and Peyton started arguing over who talked more the night before and Haley just enjoyed the feeling of not having to think about Nathan. It was a nice feeling, just listening to her two best friends argue over something that didn't even matter. It had a familiar feel to it that made Haley feel better some how.

"Hey, Haley." Haley was snapped out of her thought by the familiar sweet voice. She was surprised that she wasn't suddenly filled with the sudden urge to either cry or maim the blonde. Haley looked around, surprised to find that they were already inside the cabin without her realizing it.

"Lacy, hi," Haley replied in an equally sweet voice. The girls shared nothing more than a small wave, both aware of the weirdness between them. Peyton, noticing the tension in the room, cleared her throat.

"So, ah, where's Jake?"

"I think he's still in his room," she answered, sending Peyton a thankful smile for breaking the obvious tension. Peyton nodded and they continued walking towards the bedrooms.

"Thanks," Brooke answered before Peyton had a chance to. "We're just going to go put Miss James down to bed." Lacy nodded and went off in search of Tim and Lucas. The girls continued down the hall.

"See," Peyton teased, bumping Haley with her hip. "That wasn't so bad, now was it?" Haley rolled her eyes, but didn't answer. Haley had to admit, seeing Lacy wasn't as bad as she thought it would be. She didn't get any flashes of her and Nathan going at it, she didn't get light headed or anything. She saw the other woman and she lived through it.

"Just shut up, Blondie."

"That's my girl," Brooke cheered, wrapping her arm around Haley's waist as they walked. Haley kept insisting that she could walk on her own, but neither Peyton nor Brooke listened to her. Once they finally reached Haley's room, they opened the door to find all of Haley's stuff the way she had left it yesterday. "Time for bed?"

"I don't think so," Haley answered. While she was tired, she would never admit it to them. She always felt weird napping in the middle of the day, it made herfeel so unproductive.Brooke ignored her and led her over to the bed before gently pushing her down on it. "Tigger, come on…"

"Nope, no arguing with me, Missy," Brooke told her as she started tucking her best friend in. Haley finally gave up and let Brooke pull the covers over her. Despite wanting to stay up, sleep soon overtook her and Haley was knocked out the second her head hit the pillow. "I told her so."

"Alright, we better get going," Peyton suggested, moving back towards the door. She stopped when she noticed that Brooke was still sitting on the bed. "Brooke?"

"I think I should stay," she answered. "I'll just lay here with her." Peyton raised an eyebrow at her friend and Brooke slumped her shoulders. "She hasn't been sleeping the past week. She shakes and keeps waking up in tears. I'm not sure if she's having nightmares or if it's a subconscious thing, but I think I need to be here with her."

"You sure?" Brooke nodded and moved up the bed, getting in position to lay down beside the already sleeping girl.

"Yeah, you go talk to Jake," Brooke instructed her with a wave of her hand. "Try to find out why he's got a stick up his ass all of a sudden."

"Kay," Peyton nodded, opening the door and stepping out. "Call me if you need anything." Brooke nodded again and smiled as Peyton left the room. As soon as the blonde was gone, the smile disappeared and was replaced by a frown. She slid down the backboard until she was flat on her back. This was the first time she had been allowed to deal with her feelings. She couldn't shake that terrified feeling that had shot through her when she got that phone call from Peyton.

She tilted her head to the side to look at Haley's face and her frown got worse. She could practically see Haley's brain working over time in her sleep and she knew that her thoughts were not good ones. She knew that her friend was going to wake up soon in tears and it killed her to think about it. She wasn't sure how much longer she could take seeing her best friend so broken like that.

She waited a moment longer and tore her gaze away, finally allowing herself to cry.

**--OTH--**

"So, are you like back together with that girl now?" Nicki asked as she watched the trees go by. The entire ride had been made in silence so far and it was starting to drive her crazy. When Nathan didn't answer right away, she glanced at him to grudge his reaction.

"No," was all he said. There was no emotion in his voice anymore and even Nicki had noticed that. He didn't know what he had been thinking when he had brought her up there, but he knew that he wasn't feeling it anymore. He wasn't even attracted to Nicki any longer. She was just some skank to him now and as soon as they got back to Tree Hill, he hoped he'd never have to see her again.

"Did you try?" It took everything in Nathan not to snap at her. He bit his tongue and didn't say anything. She noticed that he was fighting the urge to say something and it only fueled her curiosity.

"No."

"Are you going to?"

"Would you just shut up?" he snapped, having enough of this conversation. It was none of her damn business if he was going to get back together with Haley or not. He had no idea what he saw in her before.

"Oh, this is going to be better than I thought," she commented. Nicki had been with enough guys to know how to read them. Just by looking at Nathan, seeing the tension in his hands as he held the steering wheel. He was planning something big. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm not talking about his with you."

"Come on," she begged. There was nothing she loved more than good gossip and she knew that she was certain to find some in him. "You know you want to tell me. You're just dying to tell someone, I can tell."

"You're wrong." She wasn't, of course. He had thought about telling Jake about his plan last night, but Jake had dropped the marriage bomb on him and it sort of slipped his mind. "And even if I did, I wouldn't tell you."

"Fine," she sighed, sensing that he was going to give in any minute. She had yet to meet a guy that could resist her nagging. She let out a huge sigh and slumped down in her chair, looking back out the window.

Nathan glanced over at her quickly before looking back at the road. He knew he shouldn't be telling her about this, she didn't even know Haley. He should be asking Lucas about this. Hell, even Tim would be better suited for this, but he really needed to tell someone. He needed to know if his plan was going to work because this was his last chance. If he blew this, that was it. Him and Haley were done. It was all he had left. He sighed and loosened his grip on the steer wheel, but didn't look at her.

"I'm gonna ask her to marry me."

**--OTH--**

Okay, that is all. Remember, I have it all written out and the sequel has already been started, so no amount of begging for them to get together or stay apart is going to help because I already have the end written. Just so you guys know, the people that reviewed on the board I posted at shared my personal opinion on Nathan and what he'd done and what Haley should do about it, so they were pleased with the ending.

Please review.


	35. Actions Speak Louder Than Words

_Author's Note:_ Hey, all. I'm back, and so soon! Aren't you guys all so happy to see me! You better be, Lizzie. Anyway, just dropped this off. After this, there's only 2 more chapters. And just to warn you, there isn't that much Naley in this chapter, it's mostly Jake/Peyton stuff, but it's needed for this story and for the sequel. Enjoy. And review.

**---OTH---**

"Are you serious?"

The car had been completely silent since Nathan revealed his plan to Nicki. Neither knew what to say so they settled on saying nothing. Nathan wasn't sure how to take her silence and was scared that she thought it was a bad idea. Finally, after she stopped laughing at how pathetic his plan was, Nicki decided that she needed to say something.

"Yeah," Nathan answered, a little less unsure about his idea then he had been before. He glanced at her quickly before refocusing on the road. "Why, you don't think it will work?"

"I'm just not sure what you're trying to tell her," she answered. She didn't know what had gone on between Nathan and Haley; expect the fact that they used to go out. That much she had managed to figure out on her own. Then she remembered that he was the father of her sister's baby and put two and two together.

"I'm trying to tell her that I want us to be together," he explained. He had thought long and hard about it, trying to figure out the best way to prove to Haley that he was sorry about everything. "I really screw things up with her and I want her to know that she can trust me again. That I'm willing to make the commitment."

"And proposing is the best way to do that?"

"I just want her to know how sorry I am." He knew what Nicki was going to say so he continued before she could ask. "Yeah, I know that being sorry isn't the best reason for marriage, but I love her. God, more than anything, I love her."

"And yet you cheated on her," Nicki pointed out. She wasn't sure what he was expecting from her, but it wasn't going to be sympathy. Sure, she could be a cruel, cold-hearted bitch, but she was still a woman and they needed to stick together. "Got my sister pregnant, brought me up to the cabin when you knew she was going to be there…"

"Okay, I get it," Nathan sighed. "I know that my actions don't exactly show that I love her, but I do. You can even ask Peyton, she knows me better than anyone, even more than Haley, and she said that she knew I loved her."

"I really doesn't matter how you feel," she told him. "What matters is what you do and what you did was cheat on your girlfriend. There really isn't anything else that needs to be said."

Nathan rolled her words around in his head and let them sink in. He didn't want to hear that his plan wasn't going to work. Deep down, he knew that there was a chance that he had lost Haley forever, but he wasn't ready for that to happen yet. He had to believe that he could get Haley back, is he didn't he would go insane. Just the thought of losing Haley for good, having to see her with another guy… it was enough to kill him.

"What do you know?" he snapped. Listening to her was making him angry and he just wished he happened said anything to her in the first place. "You're just a slut."

"I may be a slut, but I'm not a cheater," she told him with a smile. "But you? You're both."

**---OTH---**

"Would you please just tell me what's wrong?"

After Peyton left Haley and Brooke to sleep, she had followed Brooke's advice and went to talk to Jake. From what Lacy and Lucas said, something was wrong with Jake. Not to mention the things that he had said to Brooke last night. Peyton knew Jake better than anyone; he was not the type of guy to act like that. She had a sinking feeling in the pit of her that something was seriously wrong. It wasn't everyday that her boyfriend stood up for a jackass and she knew for a fact that Jake had been on Haley's side throughout this whole thing. Something must have happened while she was stranded with Haley and she was going to find out what it was if it was the last thing she did.

"I don't want to talk about it, Peyton," Jake sighed. Peyton slumped her shoulders but made no attempt to leave. At least he wasn't snapping at her anymore, that was a plus.

"Well, I do," Peyton replied in a tight voice. She was positive now that something was bothering him. She glanced behind her and closed the door so nobody would hear them talking before walking further into their room. "Something happened and it's obviously affecting you. What happened?"

"Trust me, you don't want to know," Jake mumbled, getting up from the chair he was sitting in to flop down on the bed. She eyed him for a moment, trying to decide how to play this. She could piss him off to the point were he just screams it out to get her to shut up or she can work around it, try to get a feel for it.

"Okay," she said simply. Jake raised an eyebrow at her, surprised that she was going to let this drop. Peyton Sawyer was never one to let anything drop. Normally she would drill and pry until she found everything out.

"Thank you," he replied, pushing himself up onto his elbows to watch her move around the room. A part of him wanted her to pry because that would save him the trouble of having to bring it up. He was going to have to tell her sometime and he couldn't help but think that now was a good of time than any.

"No problem," she smirked to herself as she turned her back to him to look out the window. This was going to be easier than she thought. After a moment, she turned around and sat down in the chair Jake was in before he got up.

"So," he began, sitting up completely to get a better look at her. "How's Haley doing? You guys just brought her home, right?"

"Yeah," she answered, not being able to hide the glare she was sending his way. She couldn't believe that he had the nerve to bring up Haley after standing up for Nathan last night. "She was a lot better after you and Nathan left."

"I take it Brooke told you?" He didn't even have to ask. He should have known that Brooke was going to tell Peyton about his behavior last night. He had never seen Brooke that angry with him, at anyone really. If she was that mad at him, he couldn't imagine what she was like when she talked to Nathan.

"Of course she did," Peyton answer coldly. There was nothing she would like more than to yell at him for saying those stupid ass things to Brooke about Haley and Nathan last night, but if she wanted to find out what cause the outburst, she was going to have to play it cool. "You know Brooke, she can't keep her mouth shut."

"Apparently either can I," Jake replied with a slight smile, hoping that she would forgive him. He finally looked up and met her gaze, looking her directly in the eyes.

He had to tell her.

He didn't want to. There was a part of him that was hoping he would be able to hide this whole thing and get it all sorted out and cleaned up without his girlfriend even knowing about it. Now that he thought about it, he couldn't believe he had been so foolish to actually think that would work. If this whole thing with Nathan, Haley and Lacy taught him anything, it was that secrets don't stay buried.

"That's not true," Peyton pointed out. She could practically see the wheels turning in Jake's head and couldn't help the victorious feeling that was rising up in her. She was breaking him down and she knew it. "You're doing a pretty good job with that secret you're hiding."

"You know the thing about secrets?" he began. He couldn't look at her, there was no way he was going to be able to tell her if she looked at him with those curious eyes. "They always come back up to bite you in the ass."

"You're telling me," Peyton snorted. If there was anyone that knew that it was her. She had almost lost of her best friend because of one stupid secret, in more ways then one. "I know all about secrets, so spill. It can't be that bad, can it?"

"Believe me, it can," he told her. He shook his head and got off the bed to stand in front of her. She looked up at him with humorous eyes. She found it funny that he was acting so serious about all of this. What could he be hiding that is so bad? "This isn't funny, Peyton."

"Then tell me and I'll stop smiling."

"It's about Nicki," he stated. That was all he had to say to whip that smirk right off her face. She mouth turned into a tight frown and she looked him straight in the eyes, telling him that he better explain himself and fast.

"What about her?" The first thought that came to her mind was that he had been seeing her behind her back, but then she thought about it some more and she knew it wasn't true. The look on his face and the tone of his voice when he had talked to her yesterday when they walked into the cabin told her that Jake hadn't seen her since she left him and Jenny over a year ago. "Do you have another kid running around or something?"

"It's not that," he said, finding it a little funny that both Nathan and Peyton had the same first reaction. As much as they both disliked each other, he wondered if they even realized how much they had in common. "Nathan asked the same thing."

"Nathan," she spat. "I should have known he had something to do with his. Did he knock her up too or something? Cause then at least Lacy's kid would have a little brother or sister to hang out with. Oh, or they could grow up to be another Lucas and Nathan before Haley and hate each other with a fiery passion. Yeah, that would be fun."

"It has nothing to do with Nathan," he assured her, smiling slightly at her little outburst. He loved it when she went off like that. Her doing something cute like that just made this harder to tell her. "This is between me and Nicki. Or… it was anyway."

"Okay," the blonde stated, taking a deep breath. She wasn't going to freak out about this until she knew what was going on. She was never one to jump to conclusions and she hated it when people did it to her. She took another deep breath and nodded her head, telling her to explain this to her. "What about you and Nicki?"

"There's something that I never told you about," Jake began to explain. He didn't think it was going to be this hard to tell her the truth. Peyton nodded her head, indicating that she was waiting for him to continue. "Back when Nicki was pregnant with Jenny, I think she was only like three months along…"

"Just spit it out, Jake," Peyton snapped. If she was willing to admit it, she knew where this was going. She had always kind of wondered about it, but never got up the nerve to ask him.

"We got married." His words hung in the air as Peyton tried to digest them. She couldn't say that she wasn't expecting that. She closed her eyes and nodded, still trying to figure out what this meant for their relationship. When she opened her eyes and looked back up at him, she knew there was more. "We're still married."

"I see," she answered. That part, she was not expecting. Her eyes quickly traveled to his hand to see if there was a ring that she just never noticed before. There was nothing there. "So what am I then? The other woman?"

"No," he answered quickly. "No, it's not like that at all, baby." He really should have explained this better. Finally, the anger of being lied to for over a year washed over Peyton and she stood up.

"Then what is it like, Jake?" He looked at her for a moment before taking a few steps back and walking further away to gather his thoughts. He ran a hand through his shaggy hair and let out a puff of breath. He turned around to face her again.

"We only got married because we were broke," he explained. "My parents barely had enough money to support themselves and me, they could never help us out when Jenny came. Nicki's parents hated the situation and even kicked her out of the house, but they still loved her and Jenny. They said that the only way they'd help us out was if we got married. That way it wasn't such an embarrassment for them."

"Cut to part where you're still married," she snapped. She didn't care why they got married; it wasn't any of her business. The only part that was her business was the fact that her boyfriend was someone else's husband.

"Alright," he nodded. "It wasn't long after Jenny was born that she bailed out on us. I asked her parents where she was, but they wouldn't tell me, I don't even know if they knew where she was.I had no place to send the divorce papers."

"If it wasn't your fault, then how come you lied to me this whole time?" she asked. As much as she hated to admit it, it really wasn't Jake's fault that Nicki left, but she couldn't forgive him for not telling her all of this.

"I just sorta hoped that it would all blow over," he answered. "I was hoping I'd eventually find her one day and we could work it out without you knowing."

"And what were you going to do if you didn't find her?" she asked. "What were you going to say to me when I asked you about us getting married one day? It's illegal to have two wives in this countrynowadays, you know?"

"Look," he sighed. This was going nowhere and he certainly didn't want to have this conversation when there were at least five other people around that could walk in at anytime. "After you ran off to go find Haley, I talked to Nicki. I told her that I still had the papers and she could sign them when we got back." He paused and shook his head. "She won't do it."

"What?"

"She said she won't sign them," Jake repeated. He couldn't bring himself to look at Peyton because he knew what was coming. He knew that when he finally told her that that would be it for them. He finally looked up at Peyton when he heard her moving passed him. "Wait, please, Peyton. Please, this isn't my fault."

"I can't date you when I know that you're still married to her," Peyton told him, stopping when she reached the door to look at him. The anger that she felt dies down a little when she saw the broken look on Jake's face. "I know that it's not your fault that she won't sign the papers, but… I just can't do this."

"So, you're saying we're over?" Even though he had been prepared for this, it still hurt to hear the words said out loud. The words hit Peyton hard to. She hated that she had to do this because it hurt so much, but she didn't have any other choice.

"Until you get Nicki to sign those papers," she told him in an empty voice. "Yeah, we are." She reached for the doorknob with a shaky hand, and opened the door. Before she stepped out though, she turned back around. "I love you, Jake, I always will, but I think we need to take a break while you sort this whole thing out."

"I understand," he told her. As much as it hurt him, he really did understand why she had to do this. "You know I love you, right?" Peyton gave him a sad smile and nodded.

"Tell Jenny I love her." He nodded. She stood there for a moment, trying to decide whether or not she should give him a goodbye kiss. She shook her head, figure that would just make this whole thing harder and walked out the door. Once she was out in the hall, she leaned her back against the wooden door and took a breath, trying to keep the tears in.

She stood there for few minutes until the tears finally won and she rushed across the hall and into Haley's bedroom where she knew Brooke and Haley were. When she walked in, she was surprised to find that both girls were asleep and huddled together. She quietly closed the door and walked over to the bed. She noticed that Brooke looked like she had been crying as well, but she shook it off and kicked off her shoes.

Pulling the covers back, she slipped in on the other side of Haley, and moved closer to her two best friends. Her silent cries fell upon deaf ears until she finally joined them in a restless sleep.

**---OTH---**

Please don't throw things at me!That concludes the fun at the cabin. Well, I really don't think that 'fun' is the right word to use for what happened, right? Anyway, the next two chapters are the last ones, and there is lots of Naley in them, so, I'm sure you'll like that part. Anyway, please tell me what you think.


	36. The Moment of Truth

_Author's Note:_ Hey. Aw, it's the second last chapter! Are you guys all excited, or what? I hope you are. But don't worry, I won't take too long to post the sequel when this is done, so it's okay. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter and please leave me a nice review, because I can't get enough of them.

**---OTH---**

"Hey, bro. When did you get back?"

The rest of the weekend had been completely uncomfortable. Tim and Lacy had left soon after Haley returned to the cabin. It had taken Lacy and Lucas almost an hour to convince Tim that Haley would be perfectly fine without him there. The girls spelt most of the day away in Haley's room, which was when Lucas took the time to find out what was up with Jake. After hearing everything that happened between his two friends, it had only served to further his resolve. When Brooke woke up and after explaining all the new developments, they had a long talk and mutually decided that it was for the best if they took a break. They both felt that they needed to focus on helping their friends deal with their problems, before they could focus on each other. They weren't going to be dating anyone else in the mean time, but they didn't feel it was the right time to be trying to juggle a relationship when everything around them was so crazy.

"Just yesterday," Skills answered, lining up to the basket and shooting the ball. He smiled when it went in with ease. He waited until the ball bounced back to him before turning around. "New York was crazy this year."

"How's your mom?" Haley asked, shoving her hands into her pockets as the cool air blew past her. She found it weird that it was so chilly, considering it was only early September, the last night of summer to be exact. Tomorrow was the first day back at Tree Hill High School, and she was not looking forward to it. She could just imagine the kinds of gossip that would be buzzing through the hallways.

"She's got a new boyfriend," he answered, a scowl coming to his face. Haley laughed, not surprised that he didn't like the guy. Skills went to live with his mother every summer and every summer she had a new boyfriend. He always hated them.

"This one's not a winner either?"

"He doesn't like basketball." That was all Haley needed to hear to understand why he wasn't liked. It was a sin in Tree Hill not to like basketball, so for a native to be seeing someone that didn't like it, it was unacceptable.

"Yeah, he's gone," she laughed. Skills nodded his head and gave her a smile. He could tell that she was upset about something. When he left at the beginning of summer everything had been perfect with her, so he wasn't sure what had happened. She got uncomfortable under his stare and moved over to the bench and sat down.

"So, what brings you here anyway?"

"I'm not too sure, actually," she answered. When she got home that day, there was a message on her machine from Nathan asking her to meet him at the docs at ten. Her first instinct was not to go, but after she thought about it some more, she decided that she really wanted to hear what he had to say for himself. "I was just out walking and sort of ended up here, I guess."

"That's happened to me a few times," he told her, bouncing the ball a few times. He caught it in his hands and moved over to the bench to sit beside Haley. "Just something about this place, it's a good place to go when you need to think."

"Yeah," she answered absently. He was right; she did like to come there to think sometimes. She'd go there really early in the morning when she knew no one would be there and just sat down to think things over. She wasn't sure what it was; maybe the familiar childhood feeling she got whenever she was there, but she always felt better after being there. "I was actually hoping you'd be here."

"Oh, really?" he asked with a smirk. He was sure that there was something wrong now. Sure, he and Haley were close, a lot closer than people think, but she only came to him when it was something serious. "Finally decided to ditch Mr. Big Shot and come back to me, huh?" As much as the reminded of Nathan hurt, she had to smile at him.

"Sorry, dude, not today," she answered, playfully shoving him in the shoulder. "I kind of need your advice on something." He smirked at her again, knowing that was what she had come for. There were not many people that knew this about him, but he was a really good listener.

"Wouldn't your little girlfriends be better suited for this?" He assumed that this was about Nathan. He saw her flinch when he mentioned him a few moments ago. Since he wasn't aware of all the drama that had taken place that summer, he could only assume that it was about the sex thing, which was something he wasn't comfortable talking to her about. She was like his little sister; he didn't want to know about her sex life.

"I already know what they're gonna say," Haley answered. She thought about telling Brooke and Peyton about the phone call, but she wanted to make this decision without them. There was no point in asking what they thought, she knew they'd tell her not to go. "I'd ask Luke but he and Jake are kind of dealing with the breakups and all…"

"Break ups?" Skills asked, surprised that anyone had broken up at all. When he had left at the beginning of the summer, everything had been peachy in lover's paradise. The only hitch being that Tim still wasn't getting any. "Who broke up?"

"Wow, you really did miss all the drama, didn't you?" Haley chuckled lightly at the reality that Skills still thought they lived in. She couldn't believe that it was just a couple of months ago when everything was so perfect, or at least it seemed to be. Skills looked at her strangle, trying to figure out what could have possibly changed so much in one summer. "It's a long story."

"Then start from the beginning, girl," he answered; repositioning himself so he could listen better to the story she had to tell. As much as he would deny it to anyone who asked, he was really more of a gossip queen than Brooke was, but only Haley knew that. "You're not gonna make me wait until school tomorrow, are you? I want the truth, not Theresa's warped version of it."

"Okay," Haley breathed. She ran over all the things that had occurred over the past two months, trying to think of a way to make the explanation as short as possible. "When you left the couples were as follows; me and Nathan, Brooke and Lucas, Peyton and Jake, Tim and his hand, correct?"

"Yeah, yeah," he rushed, wanting her to get on with it. "Come on, give me the dirt." Haley raised an eyebrow at him, laughing a little before continuing.

"To make a long story short," she continued. "The current relationship statuses are this; me and Nathan have broken up due to the fact that he can't keep his dick in his pants, Jake and Peyton have split for the time being until Jake gets Jenny's mom to sign the divorce papers, Brooke and Lucas are on a break until they can focus more on their relationship instead of their friends' derailed love lives, and Tim and Lacy, who is carrying Nathan's child by that way, have apparently gotten married from what Brooke and Pey told me at the hospital."

"Hospital?" was the only thing that Skills could process at the moment. He heard everything that Haley and said, but it all just seemed to crazy to be true. Haley gave him a sympathetic smile, sorry to have to dump everything on him like that.

"Oh yeah, and I died." Skills took a breath and let everything wash over him. He let out a puff of air and leaned back a little, blinking his eyes.

"Whoa," was all he could manage. Haley laughed despite herself and nodded, telling him that she still couldn't believe it herself. After a moment to digest everything, Skills turned to Haley. "So, clearly I missed an exciting summer."

"To say the least," she sighed. Even though she had tried her best to keep the hurt out of her voice, Skills had known her too long to miss it. He moved the basketball to his other hand and moved closer to Haley, wrapping an arm around her shoulder.

"You okay?" She gave him a fake smile, hoping he would just accept it. He saw right through it, but knew better than to push her about it, that she would let it out when she was ready. He decided it was better to just drop it. "So, you said you needed my advice on something?"

"Oh, yeah," Haley sniffled, quickly wiping her eyes of the few tears that had managed to escape her eyelids. She waited a moment until she was sure that she could talk before continuing. She blinked away the remaining tears and turned to look at her friend. "Um, when I got home today, there was a message on my machine from Nathan. He said he wanted to meet me at the docs. I'm assuming that he's going to ask me to get back together with him, and I'm not sure what I should do."

"And you're sure Brooke or Peyton won't be better to ask for this sort of thing? I'm not so good with the relationship advice, you know? I mean, the longest time I had a girlfriend was when we went out in seventh grade." A genuinely content smile spread across her lips at the memories of those happier times. She could remember Skills coming to school everyday with a flower for her that he had picked from Karen's garden on the way to school. All the girls in their class thought that it was just the sweetest thing.

"I wanted an objective answer," she explained, choosing not to tease him about the time they went out. "If I ask them, they're obviously going to say that I should tell him to go screw himself and for me to move on. I know Luke would tell me the same thing, just in a nicer way as not to hurt Nathan's delicate baby feelings." A sour look came over her face as she thought about Nathan trying to play the sympathy card on her. "I just wanted someone who wouldn't be biased towards me."

"And you came to me?" he asked; surprised that she would ask him based on the reasons she just gave. She thought he wouldn't be biased. "You don't think I'd be biased to my little sister?"

"Have I ever told you how creepy it is that you still look at me as you little sister when you were my first kiss?" Skills thought about it for a moment and scrunched up his nose at the thought. Haley laughed at the disgusted look on his face. "Good to know you find it disgusting when you think about kissing me."

"Aw, you know I love you, baby," he teased, kissing her on the cheek. She rolled her eyes and nodded, playfully pushing him away again. She was surprised how nice this felt, to be around someone who wasn't treating her strangely. As much as she loved both Brooke and Peyton, she couldn't stand seeing the pitying looks they kept giving her. It was nice to just sit there and joke around, not having to be remained that Nathan had ripped her heart out just over a week ago.

"I love you, too," she replied. They remain silent for a while; the only sound between them was the bouncing of the basketball on the rocky pavement in front of the bench. Haley waited another moment. "So, what do you think?"

"I think that you're the smartest person I know," he answered, cryptically. Haley mentally groaned at the answer. She should have known that Skills wouldn't give her a straight answer. "And I trust that you'll make the right decision."

"Urg, Skills," she groaned out loud. "Would you just give me a straight answer, for once?" He looked at her and tried to decide how to answer her question. The answer was obvious to him and he knew that Haley already knew the right answer as well, but for some reason, she just didn't want to face it. He sighed and tossed the ball onto the damp grass beside them.

"Look, Hales," he began, turning and taking her hands in his. "I really do love you, you've been one of my best friends since I was five. I know that the guys and me weren't exactly supportive of your relationship with Nathan at first, but when we saw that he treated you right and made you happy, we sort of learned how to deal with it. All I ever want for you is for you to be happy."

"I know."

"So, then the real question is," he began. "If you go back to Nathan, if you can some how find it inside of you to forget all the horrible things he has done, and be able to take him back…will you be happy?" Skills watched Haley's face fall slightly as the reality washed over her. "If you can wake up everyday and see his face without thinking about all the pain that he caused you, then I say go for it. If you think you can trust him, then there's no reason not to take him back." He squeezed her hands to get her to look up at him. "Do you get what I'm saying?"

"Yeah," Haley whispered, nodding her head slightly as she tried to hold back the tears. Everything that Skills said was right. She knew all of that already, but for some reason, hearing it out loud and from someone else, it finally sunk in. It was really over. She was really going to look him in the eyes and say no. And it was going to break her heart.

"Come here," he cooed, gently pulling her towards him. She didn't fit him at all; just fell into his arms and cried. Skills rested his chin on the top of her head and smoothed down her hair. Haley James was the strongest person he knew, and there was not a doubt in his mind that she would be okay.

**--OTH--**

Nathan glanced at his watch for the fourth time since he got there. It was almost ten o'clock and Haley still hadn't shown up. He was starting to worry that she wasn't going to. Though, after all, he couldn't blame her. After everything that he had done to her, he thought she'd be crazy to show up. Then again, Haley was always the kind of girl to do the unexpected.

He sighed and glanced around again, looking to see if he could spot Haley anywhere. She was still nowhere to be found. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his blue Tree Hill High varsity jacket and played with the jewelry box that was in there.

He went to every store in Tree Hill looking for the perfect ring to get Haley. It had to be perfect if she was going to take him back. When he found the one he wanted to buy, it was too expensive for him, so he had to ask his mom for some help, which she gladly agreed, not knowing what it was for.

A part of him still couldn't believe that he was going to be asking Haley to marry him in just a few minutes. He never really pictured himself getting married, and especially not at this young of an age, but he loved Haley and he needed her back. She probably wouldn't even want to get married this young, she just needed to know that it was on the table, that he was really serious about this relationship and was willing to make the commitment.

"Hey," came a voice from behind. The sadness and regret in her voice sent a shiver down Nathan's spine and he wanted to fling himself off a cliff for being the one to cause that. He took a deep breath to get his nerves in order before turning around to face her.

"I was afraid you weren't going to come," he said in way of greeted. He sent her quick glances, but was finding it hard to look her in the face. He could see the tearstains still on her cheeks and the wavering in her voice indicated that she had been crying. "I'm glad you did."

"I figured it couldn't hurt to hear you out, right?" she replied, trying her best to keep her voice level. She didn't want him to know that she had been crying. It's not as if she thought he would get some kind of pleasure out of it, she could tell by the look on his face that he wasn't enjoying it. She didn't know why, but she thought it made her seem weak that she was crying over him. She had always thought girls were so stupid for crying over boys, but now that she was on the other end, she completely understood. Nothing felt worse then feeling unwanted.

"Thank you," he told her in a soft voice, not wanting her to feel threatened of cornered or anything. He wanted her to know that if she wanted to, she had the option to leave anytime she wanted. "I know I don't deserve a second chance or anything, but I'm glad that you're a big enough person to give it to me anyway."

"That's me," she shrugged, her gaze switching between the wood beams under her feet and the blue eyes drilling a hole through her. "So, uh, on the message you said that you wanted to ask me something?"

"Oh, um, yeah," he stumbled; surprised that she was cutting right to the chase. Then again, he didn't imagine that she wanted to be there any longer than she had to be. Okay, this was it. There was no turning back. "Yeah, there is something I wanted to ask you, but I want to say something first."

"Okay." She suddenly wished she hadn't come in the first place. She knew he was going to ask her to forgive him and take him back, and the only reason she had come down there was to tell him that she couldn't take him back. As much as the thought made her want to slap herself for being stupid, she couldn't help but dread the devastated look that was going to come to his face. She thought she would want to see him in pain, but she knew how it felt and she wouldn't wish it on her worst enemy. "I'm listening."

"I know this may sound a little moronic and broken record like, but I'm really sorry for everything that happened." Haley had to suppress a laugh at his words. Did he honestly think that this was what she wanted to hear? Things had gone so far past the point of 'I'm sorry', that him saying it was almost laugh worthy. "You have no idea how much I wish I could go back in time and change everything. I wish I could be the man that you wanted me to be."

"You could have been him, Nathan," Haley interrupted him. There was no way in hell that she was going to let him martyr his way out of this. "And don't even try to pull the Dan card on me because it won't work. This isn't your father's fault. I know that you didn't have the best home life, and I'm sorry, but you had it a lot better than me. So please, just save the 'poor me' bullshit, and just get to the point."

"You're so sexy when you're angry," he commented with a smirk. She looked at him in confusion, trying to figure out why he would say that. When she saw that he was serious, she shook her head and let out a bitter laugh.

"You'll never change, will you?" she asked. She shook her head again and he looked at her in confusion, not knowing what he did wrong. "Here I thought that you were genuinely trying to apologize, as lame an attempt as it was, but you just couldn't help yourself." This was so typical of him and it made her sick. She didn't know how she ever found it cute.

"What did I do?"

"You did what you always do," she explained. "When things start looking like you might not win, you pull out some half ass remark to change the subject. I'm trying to have a serious conversation with you about our relationship, or what used to be our relationship, and you just can't keep your head out of your pants for two minutes."

"I didn't mean…"

"You say that you want to be a better man?" she continued to rant, completely ignoring anything he was doing. It felt so good to yell at him. She never really got to get her feelings out, to tell him how much it hurt her to know what he did. She was so wrapped up in her ranting that she didn't notice him moving forward and pulling something out of his pocket. "Then just be a better man. I don't know what it is with you, but you can't seem to make a commitment. When things get too serious, Nathan runs away because he's afraid of what might happen, you're afraid that you'll mess up." Nathan moved closer to her, until they were just mere inches apart and she was looking up at him, but didn't seem to register how close they were. "Well, guess what Nathan, you can't always be perfect, not everything goes as smoothly as basketball. And I'm so sick of trying to…"

"Marry me," he stated, interrupting her rant. It took her a moment to register what he had just said. She blinked a couple times and looked into his eyes to see if he was serious.

"What?"

"Marry me, Haley," he repeated. He opened up the box slowly and held it up so she could see the ring. All the air left her body as she saw the beautiful ring sitting in its holder. "I'm ready for this. You're the only girl for me, the only girl that I'll ever need and I'm ready to commit to that." She looked up at him, completely shocked at what he was saying. She couldn't believe that he was willing to marry her to prove how much he wanted her back. "Please, let me correct what I've done. I love you, Haley. Let me prove that to you."

Haley's eyes blinked rapidly as her vision started to blur. Was she hearing him right? He wanted to marry her. Nathan Scott, the guy that couldn't handle the commitment of exclusively dating her without seeing other girls on the side, was willing to spend the rest of his life with her?

Her decision just got a lot less complicated.

**--OTH--**

Dun, dun, dun! Oh no, what's she gonna say? She she gonna let bygones be bygones and take him back? Or is she going to decide that all of his horrible actions were just too much and tell him to go screw himself? Who knows? Well, I do and so do a few other people, but you'll all have to wait to see. Tell me what you think.

Review, review, review!


	37. What's it Gonna Be?

_Author's Note:_ Okay, so I was going to wait awhile to post this, but I figured 'What the hell?' and decided to just go ahead and post it, so I wouldn't leave you all hanging for too long. I know the fence is pretty split on what should happen, and I'm not going to spoil you guys by stating my opinion here, so I'll explain myself at the end. Enjoy.

**--OTH--**

"You're not serious, are you?"

Haley watched Nathan's face closely, waiting for him to break out in a grin and tell her that he was just joking around. After almost a minute of staring, she realized that he wasn't playing around; he was actually proposing to her. The guy that had broken her heart more times over the past summer than she even thought possible was really standing in front of her and expecting what, exactly? Did he think she was going to start crying, jump up into his arms and forgiving him for everything that he had done to her? Was he that dense?

"I've never been more serious in my life," Nathan answered, struggling to keep his voice on an even level. He hoped that he seemed cool and confident on the outside because he was a complete wreak on the inside. He glanced down at the ring in his hands before looking back up at her. "I mean it, Haley. I want you to be my wife."

"Your wife?" Haley repeated, all the amusement she was feeling not making its way into her voice. She looked back up into his eyes to make sure she knew exactly what was going on. "You really want to marry me?"

"More than anything," he restated firmly. His palms were beginning to get sweaty and it was cold out. This wasn't how things were supposed to go. In his head, she was overjoyed at the idea and couldn't wait to tie the knot. He gulped past the lump in his throat to speak again. "Will you marry me, Haley?"

Haley's eyes followed his movements as he dropped down to one knee and held up the velvet box so she could still see the ring. He was really going all out for this. She had to admit though; the ring was absolutely beautiful. It wasn't too big or too small and it was in the perfect shape. It looked just like the ring that she had pointed out when they had gone to the mall to pick out Peyton's birthday present earlier that year. When she looked at it more closely, she noticed that it was the same ring and she was flattered that he remembered.

As sweet as it was that he remembered, that wasn't the reason she going to base her decision on. It didn't matter to her what he said from now on, she had already made her decision. Her face remained unreadable as she thought over what Skills had told her. It was all about trust. Could she trust him?

"No," she answered simply in a light voice. As much as it hurt to realize that their relationship really was over, the whole situation was far too funny and ironic for her. She watched his face fall in complete disappointment and that just made her laugh even harder at him.

"No?" Haley laughed harder. The honest shock in his voice was enough to push her over the edge. He really did think that she was going to say yes, didn't he? Oh, God, her sides were starting to hurt. Nathan slowly got to his feet, shutting the lid on the box and shoving it into his pocket. This was not the reaction he was hoping for.

"Oh, God," she breathed, trying to catch her breath. When she had come here, she was expecting him to beg for her forgiveness and plead with her to take her back. Instead, he gets down on one knee and asks for her hand in marriage? It was like a Greek tragedy unfolding in front of her eyes.

"That really wasn't what I expected to happen," he commented, Haley's laughter starting to get on his nerves as his defensive nature kicked in. He really put himself out there in an attempt to show her that he was really sorry for everything that he had done and she just laughed at him. Nobody laughed at Nathan Scott.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she apologized halfheartedly, trying to cover her mouth in am attempt to stifle her giggles. It took her a few moments and after seeing the pissed off look on his face, she started to calm down. She fanned her face and whipped the tears off her cheeks. "It's just… what were you thinking?"

"Well, I was kinda thinking we could get married," he answered in a defeated tone. He sighed and running a hand through his hair. "Come here." He stepped forward, and laid a hand on Haley's back, leading her over to the empty bench that was just a few feet away. Once they were seated, Nathan took Haley's hands in his and turned her to face him.

"Nathan…"

"Haley, just let me explain, please." Haley nodded, the amusement from before dying down. "The things that I've done over this past summer, well they didn't just start. I've been cheating on you ever since we first starting going out. I know that isn't going to help my case any, but I feel that I should be honest with you, that you deserve that at least."

"Thank you?" Haley asked, not sure what she was expected to say to that. She had her suspicions about that, wondering if it was just a one-time thing or not. She knew she should probably be pissed at him or hurt or something, but she was all out of tears for him. He had pretty much done all the damage he could do already. She was numb to him now, it seemed.

"And I just wanted to tell you about the whole thing with Peyton." Her eyebrows shot up to her hairline and he realized what they must have sounded like. "No, no, not me and Peyton. She would never do that to you. I was just going to tell you that she didn't like lying to you…"

"Nathan, me and Peyton are cool now," she told him. "You don't have to tell me what happened." Truth was, even though she had already dealt with all of this, she really didn't need to hear anymore. As much as she wanted to deny it, it still hurt.

"But I just wanted to…"

"I don't want you to," she cut him off. She wasn't sure what the purpose for this was. Did he think that he was going to be able to get her to change her mind? Well, that wasn't going to happen. She had made her decision, she thought about it and she was set. Nothing he said, no matter how many times he said he was sorry, she wasn't going to say yes. "I'm not sure what your intentions are, but…"

"I wanted to prove to you how much I love you."

"By proposing to me?" she exclaimed. He looked down as she removed her hands from his grip. "Nathan, that isn't the way it works. You cheated on me, with countless girls, okay? You got Lacy pregnant, almost ruined my relationship with my best friends and nearly got me killed." Before Nathan could interject, she continued. "You can't just make that go away by flashing a commitment and a diamond ring in my face."

"I wanted to show you that I've changed," he explained. He was starting to sound desperate at this point and Haley noticed. "I woke up this past summer and I realized that I need to grow up. I can't keep living my life this way or I'm going to end up like my father. And I don't want that. I want to change, I have changed."

"You really haven't," she told him. It truly amazed her that after everything that had happened, he still didn't get it. She guessed that sometimes guys just never learned. "You're still looking for the quick fix."

"That isn't what this is about," he corrected her. Or was it? Nathan hadn't really ever given it much thought. All he knew was that he wanted Haley back and he was willing to do anything to make that happen.

"Then what is this about, Nathan?"

"It's about showing you that I can make a commitment," he answered. Nathan was starting to get scared. Clearly this wasn't working and he could practically see Haley slipping away from him. "I have changed, and I want to prove that to you."

"Marrying me doesn't prove that." This needed to end. He was starting to look pathetic and she didn't know how much longer she could sit here and talk with him before he got down on his knees and clung to her legs. "Do you think having a ring on your finger is somehow going to magically keep it in your pants? You cheated before and there's nothing to say that you won't cheat again."

"Haley, please…"

"No, Nathan." She sighed and stood up. "My answer is no."

"No?"

"No," she repeated. She saw the broken look flash across his face and she almost felt sorry for him, almost. "Look, I do forgive you, if that's worth anything." He looked up at her in surprise at the words. After she said no he didn't think he'd ever hear those words again.

"Really?" He had such hope in his voice and it made Haley feel bad that he thought he had a chance. It didn't chance anything at all. She just felt the need to tell him that. She nodded. "Then why won't you marry me?"

"Because marriage is about trust," she answered. "When Brooke told me I died, I realized that life is short. It's cliché as hell, but it's so true. I can't go through my entire life holding this grudge against you. And I'll never be able to move on if I have this hatred towards you." Nathan felt his heart drop to his feet when she said move on. He never really thought about her dating anyone else. "I forgive you, but it's more for me than for you. I have to forgive you to be able to move on, so that's what I'm doing."

"You're moving on?"

"Yeah," she answered quietly. She didn't exactly know where she was moving on to, but she just hoped it was someplace that didn't have drama. She didn't know if she'd be able to handle another heartbreak. She moved in front of him and knelt down, taking his chin in her hands and moving his face up so she was looking at her. "I'm sorry, Nathan. I forgive you, but this can't work. At least not right now."

"But maybe," he started, getting lost in the deep brown eyes that were staring at him. It was driving him crazy having her this close to him, and not being able to have her against him. "Maybe someday?" Haley smiled sadly at him and nodded.

"Maybe someday," she promised. She rubbed his cheeks, wiping away the single tear that had managed to escape. Acting on instinct alone, she leaned forward and kissed him. He was surprised at the contact, but it only took him a minute before he responded.

"Haley," Nathan whispered when they pulled away. Haley closed her eyes, feeling bad that she had done that. She just couldn't say leave without kissing those lips one more time. She shook her head and silenced him.

"I love you, Nathan," she whispered, and he could tell that she was crying. Her voice was wavering and he could taste the salt on his lips. "I will always love you, but I can't trust you." He closed his eyes as her words cut through him. He nodded against her forehead. She brought their lips together on last time before pulling away from him completely. "I'm sorry."

"Me too." She stood up straight and looked down at him, not sure what to do. Just as she was about to reach out again, he looked up at her with watery eyes and she pulled away. She brought that hand to her chest and bit her lip.

"I'll see you at school tomorrow?" He let out a slight laugh, which she thought, came out more as a cry, and nodded. She unclenched her fist and gave him a small wave before slowly spinning on her heels, turning her back and walking away.

Nathan watched her retreating back until she was completely out of view. Letting out a defeated sigh, he got to his feet and walked down the sand to stand at the shoreline. His hand grazed against the velvet of the ring box when he tried to put his hands in his pocket.

He slowly pulled it out and clicked the lid open to reveal the shiny diamond engagement ring. He regretted the action and quickly shut the lid. He wrapped his fingers around it tightly, dropping his hand to his side. His eyes traveled towards the water in front of him and he contemplated just throwing the box in. Throwing away any future he had with Haley.

After a moment, his shoulders slumped as he placed the ring safely back into his pocket. He watched the water for a couple more minutes before he began walking back to his apartment.

Alone.

**--OTH--**

"So, you ready for school tomorrow?" Brooke asked, turning her head to look at her blond friend. They were both sprawled out on Brooke bed, lying on their backs and staring up at the ceiling. There was quiet depressing music playing in the background, but neither girl was paying much attention to it.

"So we can hear what ridiculous stories Theresa made up to explain why we're single?" Peyton asked in a sarcastic tone. She hated the fact that Jake lied to her, she hated the fact that she had broken up with him, and she hated the fact that she was feeling this way. The only upside being that she wasn't alone. At least Brooke and Haley were going through the same thing. "I can't wait."

"I don't think she'll need to make anything up this time," Brooke told her, turning her head to star back up at the ceiling. "For once the truth is juicy enough." Just like Peyton, Brooke was feeling lonely, but she had the comfort of knowing that there were no hard feelings between her and Luke, they were just taking a break until everything settled down. They didn't want their relationship to go down in smoke like everyone's around them had.

"Yeah, I guess," Peyton sighed. The girls laid in silence for a few moments, both lost in their thoughts.

"It's been one hell of a summer, huh?" Brooke asked, breaking the silence. Peyton let out a snort in agreement. She could remember the first day of summer as if it were yesterday. Everyone was so happy then, before Nathan went and screwed _everything_ up.

"Tell me about it."

"The golden couple was torn apart by a scandalous affair," Brooke recapped in her best 'previously on…' voice. "The teen parents' romance was rocked when a dark secret was revealed, the young lovers pulled a Ross and Rachel, and the token perverted guy got hitched." Brooke shook her head. "We're like a freaking soap opera."

"You can say that again," Peyton agreed. It was things like this that made the heartache just a little less. Being able to joke around with Brooke helped her forget about the void in her now that she didn't have Jake.

"Just imagine what the school year will bring."

"Oh, God," Peyton groaned, closing her eyes. Before she could smother herself with the pillow, she heard someone come into the room. Without saying anything, Haley crawled up on the bed and lay down in between Brooke and Peyton, starring up at the ceiling too.

"Hey, you," Brooke greeted, glancing at her best friend out of the corner of her eye. She could tell that Haley had been crying, but decided that it would be best to just let it be. Haley would tell them when she was ready. "Where ya been? We tried calling you earlier."

"I went to go see Nathan," she answered simply. Brooke and Peyton were both surprised at the news since they both thought that Haley never wanted to see him again.

"And?"

"It's over." It felt weird to Haley to say it out loud. She had been repeating it over and over in her head the entire way over there, but saying it just made it so final.

"Wow," Peyton breathed. As mush as she didn't want Haley to take Nathan back, she honestly thought Haley would. She tried to think of what things would be like without them being together. For some reason, no matter what happened or where the group went, she always pictured Nathan and Haley being together. She just couldn't imagine them not being a couple. It just didn't seem right.

"Yeah."

"You okay?" Brooke asked softly, her thoughts running along the same lines as Peyton's.

"No." Peyton laid a supportive hand on her leg and Brooke squeezed her hand.

They had all gone through hell this summer and they all ended up short. They all had their hearts broken, but it didn't matter, they couldn't dwell on it forever. Life had to go on. They had to stick together and help each other out, all of them did. Eventually, the pain would lessen and maybe one day they would all be okay again.

Haley believed that. She had to.

"But I will be."

**--OTH--**

dodges various messy foods That's it. It's done. It's been a wild ride, huh? Okay, I know that a lot of you are mad, but there was no possible way in hell that I was getting them back together. No. Way. In. Hell. Now, let me explain myself:

I cannot believe that there is anyone out there that would want or expect Haley to say yes to that bastard. You guys were reading the same story that I was writing, yes? You read that part where he's been cheating on her for the past two year? Where he got Lacy's pregnant? Where he got Haley's best friends to turn against her? Where he lied to her face about everything that he did? Where he brought a psycho stalker bitch up to a cabin where he was not welcomed, where Haley was, just a week after that had broken up? If so, I still can't believe that you expected anyone in their right mind to have Haley forgive him. That us just not possible.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that Nathan doesn't deserve a change at forgiveness, everyone deserves a second chance. Or in Nathan's case, a 100th chance. That's what the sequel is for, ladies and gentlemen. Which will be up soon enough, I think. And for those of you who enjoyed the Haley/Skills stuff in the last chapter, there will be more of that in the sequel, so you guys can look forward to that.

Please review, even if you're bitter about the ending. And please, don't compare this to what is going on with Haley on the show, like a couple people have. One, this was written before that **craptastic** storyline happen. And two, what Haley did on the show, is _nothing_ compared with what Nathan did in my story.

Anyway, I hope that you guys aren't too mad at me, and that you understand. And I really hope that you'll follow me over to the sequel, which is entitled; **_All Falls Down_**.

Later, players.


End file.
